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Photogrdpiiic 
Corporatioii 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVI/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliograph^cally  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


r~T|    Coloured  covers/ 

1^  I    Couverture  de  couleur 


I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


□ 


n 


D 
D 


D 


Couverturs  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurde  et/ou  pellicul6e 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

I      I    Coloured  maps/ 


D 


Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  Mure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intdrieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutdes 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  !ui  a  it6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  una 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiqu6s  cidessous. 


I      I    Coloured  pages/ 


\/ 


y 


n 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  demaged/ 
Pages  endommagdes 


□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restaurdes  et/ou  pelliculdes 


Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d^color^es,  tacheties  ou  piqudes 


□    Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tach6es 


Showthrough/ 
Transparence 


I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 


Qualitd  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 


Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  una  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  filmies  d  nouveau  de  facon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

J 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  here  hes  been  reproduced  thenks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Seminary  of  Quebec 
Library 


L'exemplaire  filmA  fut  reproduit  grftce  i  la 
g^n^rosit*  de: 

Siminaire  de  Quebec 
Biblioth^ue 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Lee  images  suivantes  ont  it6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  !a  condition  at 
de  la  netteti  de  I'exomplaire  filmA.  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fllmage. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illLstrated  impres- 
sion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  pa^e  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  fhe  symbol  — »•  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "bND"), 
whichever  applies. 


Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  on 
papier  est  imprim4e  sont  filmte  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
derniire  page  qui  comporte  une  ampreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  Is  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
o/fginaux  sont  filmis  en  commenqant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  ampreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
derniAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
caa:  le  symbole  — »>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE  ",  le 
symbols  V  signifie  "FIN". 


Mapa.  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


Lee  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  §tre 
fllmte  d  dee  taux  de  rMuction  diffirents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  clichA.  ii  est  filmi  A  partir 
do  I'angle  SMp^rieur  gauche,  de  gauche  i  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  baa,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n^cessaire.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
iliuatrent  la  mithode. 


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BRITAIN 


^AND  THE 


BOERS. 


Bibliotfadqudt     « 
Le  S&oiiMdie  de 
3,  rue  de  rUmwrsil 
50TH  SIDES  OF  THBu6bec  4,  QUE. 

SOUTH   AFRICAN    QUESTION 

WITH  MAP. 


L— -EnsfUnd  and  die  Transraal^ 
!{f     n.— A  Vindkatf on  of  the  Boefs»     - 


IIL— A  Transraal  View  of  ttie  South  African  Qtiestion, 

By  Dr.  F.  V.  Engfeleoburg,  Editor  of  the  *'  Pretoria  Vol 


By  Sydney  Brooks 
By  A  Diplomat 


NBW  YORK: 
THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO, 


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BRITAIN 


AND  THE... 


BOERS 


BOTH  SIDES  OF  THE 

SOUTH    AFRICAN    QUESTION 

WITH  MAP. 


I.— England  and  the  Transvaal, 
IL— A  Vindication  of  the  Boers, 


By  Sydney  Brooks 
By  A  Diplomat 


III.—  A  Transvaal  View  of  the  South  African  Question, 

By  Dr.  F.  V.  Engelenburg,  Editor  of  the  "  Pretoria  Volksstem.'* 


NEW  YORK: 
THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  PUBLISHING  CO, 


t' 


(Heprlntod  t  im  The  North  American  Review.) 

Copyright,  1K99,  by  the 
North  American  Kevlew  Publishing  Company. 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


-■ 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  TRANSVAAL 

BY  SYDNEY  BROOKS. 

The  failure  of  the  Bloemfontoin  Conference  is  a  disappoint- 
ment that  may  prove  a  tragedy.  President  KrUger  and  Sir 
Alfred  Milner,  tlie  Governor  of  Cape  Colony,  met  to  discuss  the 
Transvaal  question  with  every  external  circumstance  pointing  to  a 
happy  issue.  The  time,  the  men  and  the  place  were  all  well 
chosen.  In  tlio  neat  and  compact  capital  of  the  Orange  Free 
State,  the  Boer  President  was  among  friends  of  his  own  race,  and 
the  Br.tish  ropresentative  was  not  among  enemies.  Both  com- 
missioners had  behind  them  the  free  trust  of  their  respective  gov- 
ernments. The  President,  with  the  help  of  his  more  liberal  fol- 
lowers, could  have  forced  upon  the  conservatives  of  the  Old  Boer 
party  any  agreement  he  had  cared  to  sign.  It  was  a  good  omen, 
after  all  these  years  of  obstinate  warfare,  that  he  had  consented  to 
a  meeting  at  all.  It  was  a  better  omen  that  he  had  declared  his 
willingness  to  discuss  "all,  all,  all,  except  the  independence  of  the 
Transvaal."  Sir  Alfred  Milner,  as  Lord  Cromer's  right-hand  man 
during  the  most  arduous  years  of  the  reconstruction  of  Egypt, 
proved  himself  second  only  to  his  chief  in  farsightedness,  tact,  de- 
termination and  strenuous  common-sense;  and  nothing  he  has 
done  or  said  in  South  Africa  has  caused  the  Boers  to  mistrust  him. 

The  portents  of  international  politics  were  even  more  pro- 
pitious. One  may  doubt  whether  there  has  been  since  Majuba 
Hill,  whether  there  is  ever  likely  to  be  again,  any  such  favorable 
chance  for  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  great  issue  of  South  Africa. 
To  Mr.  Chamberlain,  the  success  of  the  conference  meant  the 
restoration  of  personal  credit  in  a  matter  that  has  brought  him 
little  but  discomfiture.  Unquestionably,  before  risking  another 
rebuIF,  ]u>  must  have  convinced  himself  that  in  a  friendly  debate 
lay  some  hope  of  getting  this  troublesome  inole-hill  finally  cleared 


.-  t/  ■. 


BRITAm  AND  THE  BOERS. 
av'ay,  and  himself  left  free  to  make  his  mark  on  Eiiklish  history 
as  the  first  Colonial  Secretary  with  a  p-iliey  of  his  own.    The  peo- 
ple of  Great  Britain,  still  soraewliat  hnmiliatcd  by  memories  of 
tae  raid,  were  never  less  inclined  to  be  overbearin-  or  more  anxious 
to  reach  a  just  anc:  «aeific  solution.     There  was  notliing  i^  the 
political  situation  in  Cape  Colony  but  wliat  would  qni^t  Presi- 
dent- KrUger's  suspiciousness  and  urcre  him  to  moderation.    His 
own  Kinsmen,  the  Duteli  colonicis,  are  there  in  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment, their  racial  sympatliies  all  on  liis  side,  as  against  forcible 
interference  in  the  domestic  aifairs  of  the  Transvaal,  their  rouo-ii 
busmess  sense  counselling  justice  to  the  Uitlanders  for  the  good 
of  South  African  trade.     Nothing  was  to  be  feared  from  the  mas- 
terful orapire-builder  through  whose  "keen,  unscrupulous  course" 
brreat  Britain  has  lost  much,  even   if  she  has  gained   more 
At  the  time  the  conference  mec,  Mr.   Ehodes  was  not  even 
m    South   Africa.      From   Germany    came   no    encouragement 
to  oDduracy.      The  Kaiser,  indeed,  has  long  since  done  pen- 
ance   for   his   telegram,   and   given   the   Boers   to   understand 
that  he  can  no  longer  alford  to  be  their  friend;  and  unless  every- 
thing short  of  official  confirmation  is  to  be  disbelieved,  the  Anglo- 
German  agi-een:ent  of  last  summer  makes  provision  for  tlie  trans- 
fer of  Delagoa  Bay  from  Portuguese  to  British  Jiands,  and  so  cuts 
off  from  the  Trnnsvaal  its  last  hope  of  rcacliing  the  sea.     Even 
the  French  who  have  ca])ital  invested  in  the  Rand,  have  of  late 
put  aside  their  Anglopliobia  and  have  been  calling  upon  President 
Krdger  to  «et  his  house  in  order.    England  and  tlie  Transvaal 
were  thus  left  face  to  face,  witli  the  path  towards  a  reasonable  ad- 
justment  of  their  differences  made  as  smooth  as  possible      That 
the  conference,  with  all  these  circumstances  in  its  favor,  sliould 
have  failed,  and  failed  without  a  step  being  gained  towra-ds  har- 
monious compromise,  is  a  fact  that  must  cause  the  gravest  appro- 
hensions. 

The  conference  1)roke  up  over  tlie  eternal  franchise  difficulty, 
which,  wlnle  It  is  certainly  tlie  crux  of  the  whole  dispute,  is  only 
one  of  many  points  of  controversy  tliat  will  have  to  be  s(  raightcned 
out  before  long.  What  is  known  as  the  suzerainty  (piestion  is 
almost  as  important  and  considerably  more  interesting,  because 
more  abstract,  and  I  do  not  apologize  for  going  backwards  a  little 
way  into  history  to  get  its  pro]ior  l)oarings. 

When  Mr.  Gladstone  made  p-ace^witli  the  Boers,  a  few 


FXOLAyD  AXD  THE  TRANSVAAL. 

weeks  after  the  defeat  of  Majuba  Hill,  he  restored  to  them  their 
former  independence,  subject  to  the  suzerainty  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment.   Tliis  suzerainty  was  very  clearly  defined  by  the  second 
article  of  the  Pretoria  Convention  of  1881,     It  consisted  of  a 
right  to  appoint  a  British  Resident,  to  whom  was  given  a  vetoing 
power  over  the  policy  of  the  Republic  towards  the  Kafirs— a  very 
necessary  provision,  for  the  Boers  make  Deuteronomy  their  text- 
book on  all  native  questions;  a  right  to  move  troops  through  the 
State  in  times  of  war;  and  a  right  to  control  and  conduct  all  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  foreign  powers.     Some  such  restrictions 
wore  necessary  to  make  the  surrender  palatable  to  the  British  pub- 
lic, but  neither  Lord  Derby,  then  Colonial  Secretary,  nor  his  suc- 
cessors cared  much  about  enforcing  them.     The  Transvaal  was 
held  to  be  a  damnosa  liemlitas  before  the  discovery  of  gold,  and 
the  suzerainty  clauses  were  thrown  in  to  save  England's 'faoe. 
They  did  not  work  well.     The  Boers  chafed  under  an  arrange- 
ment that  kept  them  from  dealing  with  the  natives  in  their  own 
way,  and  disputes  became  so  frequent  that  JMr.  (Jiadstone  proposed 
a  revision  of  the  convention  in  1883. 

The  conference  that  led  to  the  signing  of  the  London  Conven- 
tion of  the  following  year  attracted  very  little  notice.  The  British 
public  was  tired  of  the  whole  business.  The  spirit  of  Imperialism 
had  not  yet  descended  on  the  Colonial  Office.  The  Boers 
badgered  and  badgered  and  got  almost  everything  they  wanted. 
All  but  complete  independence  was  granted  them  in  domestic 
affairs.  The  title  of  Resident  was  dropped  to  gratify  their  suscep- 
tibilities, and  the  British  representative  at  Pretoria  became  a  sort 
of  consul-general  on  a  reduced  salary.  The  word  "suzerainty" 
was  omitted  as  olfensive  to  Boer  sentiment.  The  convention  regu- 
lated the  western  boundaries  of  the  Republic  and  pledged  the 
Boers  not  to  seek  an  extension  of  them.  It  laid  an  inderdict  on 
slavery  or  any  "apprenticeship  partaking  of  slavery."  In  one 
clause  .only  did  the  British  Government  assert  its  external  a  -- 
tliority.  "The  South  African  Republic,"  says  this  clause,  "will 
conclude  no  treaty  or  engagement  with  any  state  or  nation  other 
than  the  Orange  Free  State,  nor  with  any  native  tribe  to  the  east- 
ward or  westward  of  the  Ro])ublic,  until  the  same  has  been  ap- 
proved by  Ilor  majesty  the  Queen."  Tliis  clause  again  was  in- 
tended chicHy  for  home  consumption.  It  was  often  disregarded 
by  the  Boers,  and  it  was  not  thought  important  enough  to  be 


BRITAIN  AXD  2HE  BOERS. 
pressed  home  by  the  Colonial  Office.    The  Transvaal  in  1884  was 

of  Son'!)  rr  '•''''  "^rr^'  ^^^^^^  ^^«^^^«^^  f-  ^he  support 
of  100  000  stock-raisers.    It  liad  but  a  small  connection  with  Brit 
i«h  mtcrcsts.     The  one  clear  thing  about  M  to  tlie  mind  of  Down- 
ing  Street  was  that  it  had  given  England  more  trouble  than  it  was 
woraiand  that  the  best  thing  to  do  was  to  .eave  it  alone 

if.  ^h\  )'  .^""^  '^/'^^  '""^'^  ^''^^'^'  officialdom  to  change 
ts  attitude  with  speed.  Thousands  of  Englishmen,  Australians 
and  Americans  swarmed  into  Johannesburg,  and  in  a  few  y  ar 
converted  a  bankrupt  and  disorganized  state  into  the  second  g  d 
producing  country  of  the  world.  The  Transvaal  and  its  be- 
wildered burghers  woke  up  to  find  themselves  the  centre  of  Eu  o- 
pean  mtngue,  and  the  London  Convention  was  discovered  to  be  a 
document  of  capital  importance. 

ihJll''^  *^i°^/^'''  ^^^  *^'  *""^^  0^  «^e  clauses'l  have  quoted 
td  m  ^-^^\.f --.Republic  is  not  an  independent  slate.  Its 
wif  te'ri  L;^^^^^^^     circu„.scribed  both  within  and  without  its 

ofln  territory.     Its  boundaries,  at  any  rate  on  one  side   arc  nof 

to  expand.-  It  cannot,  under  the  clauses  of  the  eonvention  in 
oduoe  slavey  either  openly,  or  in  any  of  the  veiled  fo™  nider" 
v.lneh  the  institution  is  still  countenanced.  Especially  aid  th  » 
.s  the  hinge  of  the  whole  convention,  is  its  lnJt7TnJou2' 
and  diplomacy  placed  under  rcstrietions.  Ifow  no  state  elf  h! 
properly  called  independent  which  is  prohibited  Z^tZin, 
Its  foreign  affairs  in  its  own  way     The  Ti-nn,v,,i      <■      .  ®  ^ 

—tt-tai^t^tr^:---— r^ 

loose  application  in  popular  parlance,  and  of  uncertain   tndin"  ,„ 
mternational  law.    The  word  has  simply  been  a ^  «,  a     "°  " 

SrlT^Tof  T  "•!  T''-  '■^'^'■"'■^  <"  En  land  anVh 
lrans^aal.     To  employ  it  adds  nothing  to  the  real  eineapv  of  the 

convention  of  1884;  to  drop  it  does  not  diminish  Britisl  authority 
»  any  way.    Call  that  authority  by  what  name  one  w  ll!^u    r 
tZZ        "  ""  "«'"  *°  "'"-'"^  '-*  remain    that  the 


>f 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  TRANSVAAL. 

The  dispute  between  the  two  governments  over  this  point  is, 
therefore,  at  bottom  largely  verbal  and  sentimental.  Whether  the 
amount  of  control  possessed  by  Great  Britain  over  the  Transvaal 
constitutes  a  suzerainty  cannot  be  settled,  until  we  know  exactly 
what  a  suzerainty  is;  and  that  nobody  can  tell  us.  The  really 
important  thing  to  knew  is  that  so  long  as  President  Kr tiger 
accepts  and  acts  up  to  the  terms  of  the  London  Conven- 
tion, he  is  bound  to  the  clause  which  carries  with  it  the  veto  of  the 
British  Government  on  all  the  diplomatic  negotiations  of  the 
Transvaal,  except  those  connected  with  the  dange  Free  State. 

It  is  one  thing  to  believe  in  the  reality  of  British  control,  and 
quite  another  to  approve  its  necessity.  The  first  is  a  question  of 
fact,  the  second  of  policy  and  opinion.  Great  Britain  stands  com- 
mitted to  the  maintenance  of  the  London  Convention  by  the  sup- 
posed necessities  of  her  position  as  the  paramount  power  in  South 
Africa;  and,  after  the  coquetting  between  President  Krflger  and 
the  German  Emperor  tluit  followed  tlie  Jameson  raid,  the  fear  of 
foreign  intrigue  is  too  strong  for  any  British  ministry  at  present 
to  allow  the  Transvaal  the  same  latitude  in  foreign,  as  it  enjoys  in 
internal,  affairs.  The  fear  may  seem  unreas -^ning;  to  many  it  does 
seem  unreasoning;  but,  though  less  potent  to-day  than  it  was  three 
years  ago,  it  is  still  vivid  enough  to  make  the  preservation  of  the 
convention  appear  a  sacred  duty  and  any  revision  of  it  a  sacrifice 
of  imperial  rights.  There  is  room  for  a  good  deal  of  regret  that 
this  should  be  so.  The  London  Convention  has  attained  a  quite 
undeserved  and  factitious  sanctity  in  the  eyes  of  English  people. 
From  seeing  their  government  constantly  at  work  defending  it 
against  real  or  alleged  breaches,  they  have  come  to  think  it  some- 
thing very  well  worth  defending.  It  is  spoken  and  written  of  as 
a  sort  of  Magna  Charta  of  British  dominion  in  Soutli  Africa,  with- 
out which  Cape  Colony,  Natal  and  the  whole  of  Rhodesia  would 
fall  a  ready  prey  to  some  designing  power  in  alliance  with  the 
Transvaal.  The  question  of  its  real  value  and  of  the  possibility  of 
revising  its  hasty  clauses  has  never  been  squarely  considered.  Yet 
tliere  is  not  much,  either  in  its  inception  or  after-history,  to  com- 
mand such  perfervid  adoration.  It  was  hurriedly  and  carelessly 
drafted  to  bring  to  its  quickest  end  an  issue  of  which  everyone 
was  wearied;  it  was  so  little  thought  of  that  the  Boers  might  claim 
it  has  lapsed  through  frequent  unrebuked  violations;  above  all, 
it  dealt  with  a  state  of  affairs  that  has  altered  in  every  particular 


BRITAIN  AKD  TBI:  BOEItS. 
Since  its  promulgation.    WLerein  does  its  peculiar  virtue  consist? 
Mort  EngI,Amen  would  answer,  truly  enough,  in  the  cTausTthat 
regulates  the  external  affairs  of  the  Transvfal     But  wC  ,jte 
all,  IS  that  clause  worth?    It  has  irritated  and  hunumted  the 
Boers  w.tlr„u      enefiting  England  in  a  single  essential     It  has 
ore  d  the  Ii.,t,sh  Uoveruu,ont  to  an  undignified  and  unprodueUv. 
alchfuluess  over  the  doings  of  Transvaal  emissaries  abroad     If 
was  designed  as  an  cirectivc  check  on  foreign  diplomacy  then 

™I  tatn^'T^''";'  ''"""'^  f ""*  "^  wo^-thlesS'es  't: 
G(mon»tiation,    It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  believe  that  luv 

Ijower  that  thought  it  worth  while  to  negotiate  a  secret Ireltyw'th 

the  Iransvaal  would  be  deterred  from  doing  so  by  the  London 

tonvention;  and  equally  impossible  to  imagine  thalf  any  such 

;zr:f « le'  iV'r'f'  "^  ''""^™^'  ™"'^  3ubmit7to  he 

appio^al  of  tlie  British  Government.    The  obstacle  that  ieens 

throw  of  British  ascendancy  in  South  Africa,  is  not  a  fifteen-year- 

M  piece  of  parchment,  but  the  strength  and  position  of  the  Bri  - 

h  Empire;  and  that  strength  and  position  would  remain  what 

bey  are  and  be  a  deterrent  of  undiminished  persuasiveness  were 

he  convention  cancelled  to-morrow.    muJmJuZ'Zi- 

b  lity  of  foreign  interference  in  South  Africa,  or  there  i  not     if 

there  IS,  the  London  Convention  is  no  safeguard  against!  '    If 

there  is  not,  the  London  Convention,  or  at  anf  rate  i  f  Z    Imi 

nent  clause,  is  superfluous.  ^ 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  know  now  that  neither  Germany  nor 
any  other  power  had  serious  thoughts  of  taking  upon  Ttself  tl" 
tremendous  responsibility  of  an  attempt  to  oult  Orea    B itl 
rom  &ou  h  Atnea.    The  true  danger  to  the  British  position     ms 
oin  quite  another  source,  from  the  continued  wan't  of  harrn; 
»i.d  confldence  between  the  English  and  the  Dutch   due  to  the 
piesent  turbulent  condition  of  the  Transvaal.    A  civ  1  not  a  fo 
eign,  war  is  the  menace  to  be  dreaded.    It  is  in  the  power  of  fle" 
Boers  to  end  the  uncertainty  that  paraly.es  commeL  and  p  t 
okcs  racial  antagonism  and  unrest  from  Cape  Town  to  the  Zam- 
besi by  reforming  their  internal  administration;  and,  as  an  indu™. 
n.ent  to  set  about  the  task,  a  guarantee  of  independence  wiuld  be 

icloZ^^irV        "f  ^r'"^  '™""'"^''^  "'  *'«  Colonial 
-ccretaiy.    It  would  seem  to  be  at  once  an  act  of  maimanimitv 

and  good  policy  if  the  British  Government  were  torloZTZ 


•1 


-.31 


I 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  TRANSVAAL, 

claims  to  a  suzerainty  and,  if  need  be,  abolish  or  revise  the  con- 
vention, in  return  for  the  grant  of  those  concessions  to  the 
Uitlanders  which  can  alone  make  the  Transvaal  a  contented  and 
friendly  state.  The  Boers  are  keenly  anxious  to  have  their  status 
as  a  nation  placed  beyond  question.  It  galls  them,  as  it  would 
gall  any  high-spirited  people,  to  find  themseh  s  after  all  these 
years  of  struggle,  still  in  a  position  of  semi-dependence.  From 
the  British  and  imperial  point  of  view,  there  is  nothing  in  the  Lon- 
don Convention  to  compare  with  the  vital  obligation  of  securing 
justice  for  the  Uitlanders,  and  inducing  the  two  races  to  live  side 
by  side  in  peace.  Its  abolition  would  involve  the  surrender  of  no 
right  of  guardianship  over  British  subjects  in  the  Transvaal  that 
the  ordinary  law  of  nations  does  not  already  secure  to  the  British 
Government;  and  tlie  withdrawal  of  the  suzerainty  claims,  which 
are  an  incessant  source  of  bickerings  between  the  two  peoples,  and 
bring  no  real  profit  to  Great  Britain,  would  do  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  reconcile  the  Boers  to  an  adequate  measure  of  reform. 
On  the  bare  terms  of  the  London  Convention,  as  a  matter  of 
technical  legal  right,  it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain is  strictly  justified  in  protesting  against  any  of  the  features 
of  the  President's  domestic  policy.  Yet  no  one  can  doubt  that, 
had  the  convention  been  non-existcut,  the  protests  would  have 
flowed  in  just  the  same,  and  possibly  with  greater  force  and  bold- 
ness. The  convention,  at  best,  throws  but  a  dubious  legality  upon 
a  course  of  action  already  founded  on  broad  i)rinciples  of  duty  and 
justice.  It  really  hampers,  rather  than  aids,  British  ministers  in 
their  endeavor  to  transform  President  Kriiger's  fascinating  me- 
diajvalism  into  something  approaching  a  modern  system  of  gov- 
ernment. No  sooner  are  the  Uitlanders  shackled  with  fresh  fet- 
ters, than  a  brilliant  and  quite  interminable  debate  springs  up  be- 
tween the  law  oilicers  of  the  Crown  and  the  legal  luminaries  em- 
ployed by  Mr.  Kriiger,  as  to  whether  the  new  imposition  is  or  is 
not  a  breach  of  the  convention;  the  fetters,  meanwhile,  remain- 
ing where  they  were  placed.  The  net  v.'orkings  of  the  conven- 
tion have  all  along  favored  the  Fabian  tactics  which  the  Presi- 
dent knows  so  well  how  to  pursue;  and,  but  for  one  point,  he  would 
probably  be  quite  well  satisfied  to  let  it  remain  as  it  is.  That  point 
is  the  limitations  contained  in  the  convention  on  the  full  sov- 
eieignty  of  the  Transvaal;  and  to  sweep  tliose  restrictions  away 
and  place  the  Republic  on  an  equality  with  Great  Britain,  there 


BRITAIV  AND  THE  BOERS. 

are  probably  f™  conccssionB  which  he  would  lot  be  glad  to  make 
There  8eem,  a  „  1  events  te  be  here  an  opportunity  for  an  honori 
ab  e  and  safsfaCory  bargain.  An  independent  Tran,vaal.  ™th 
the  U.tlanderB  admitted  to  the  franchise,  would  be  no  mojea 

FrrLte  ^""'°°  '"  '°"*  ^''"^  "■"■^  '»  «•«  O^ai: 

Sir  Alfred  Miner,  of  course,  went  to  Bloemfontein  with  no 

uch  heroic  proposals  in  his  portfolio.    In  the  pre  ent  Iwe  of 

England's  attachment  to  the  convention,  one  hafto  adm  f that 

sTon™;nd''Lrof  T  '"""r  /^«°"^'  *«''"^'  P"^«  o" 
6,on  and  fears  of  foreign  interference  are  too  keenly  aroused  to 

brook  the  seeming  humiliation  of  retreat,  even  from  a  fate  and 

unproli  able  position.    Too  much  zeal  has  been  spent  on  he  de 

cnce  of  the  convention  to  make  its  surrender  seem  anything  but 

a  gross  betrayal.    Nevertheless,  it  is  worth  noting  that  the  confer 

ence  foundered  in  part  on  this  very  rook.   The  pfesident  proposed 

ttt  on    Ti  ?'  Hrr  "  ''^^"'^  *™'^  ''^  submitted'torbt 
tiation.    Sir  Alfred  Milner  was  obliged  to  answer,  in  effect  that 

on  any  matter  of  real  importance  there  could  be  no  aAitra  ion 

b  tween  a  suzermn  state  and  its  dependency.    Such  pistoU  ng  d° 

wmTave  L7  "t/r  '  P^"™*"'  '™'=-  T''^  concessions  ttat 
wil   have  to  be  granted  to  end  the  veiled  warfare  that  threatens 

blo^r"  *\^™^™»"  >■«'  "ko  the  whole  of  South  Afr  c.  to 
blood  cannot  be  ejcpected  to  come  from  one  side  only.  It  is  the 
President's  misfortune  to  have  put  himself  morally  in  the  wron^ 

Cre!  T>"7  P"".'  "'  "■""^'"^  P"'-^-  That  /oes  not  rXv! 
Great  Britain  from  the  obligation  of  considering  whether  it  would 
not  be  an  act  of  mingled  wisdom  and  generosity  to  make  thrtask 

tTTT  T  ''  """'""  'f'"'  renunciation  of  su  erato  y 
.s  the  only  adequate  reward  in  sight  that  will  atone  for  the  corn- 

Puluri:rT'"'  "^"""^  *"  *'  reorganisation  of  tl  oT 
public  8  internal  economy.    It  would  remove,  in  great  part  the 

Litlanders,  they  imperil  tlieir  own  todependence;  and  it  would 
show  as  nothing  else  can,  the  sincerity  'and  honesty  of  pZ  e 

ttzr  "'  ^''«"'''  ^'"^ "  "'^'^  ^™>'"ss  -"h  *: 

In  the  Transvaal  itself  the  situation  is  almost  too  fantastic  for 

ngTorC°h'    '"^  ''"'^°''^"^'  ^^"-^'^^^^^  of  whom     ! 
iong  to  the  English-speaking  race,  outnumber  the  Boers  by  more 


I 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  TRANSVAAL. 

than  two  to  one.  They  own  half  the  land  and  contribute  nine- 
teen-twentieths  of  the  public  revenue.  It  is  through  their  brains 
and  energy  that  the  Transvaal  has  been  raised  from  bankruptcy 
into  its  present  prosperity.  They  are  citizens  of  the  most  progres- 
sive countries  in  the  world,  accustomed  to  self-government  and 
ii' tolerant  of  any  encroachments  upon  their  liberty.  The  Boers 
])ave  altered  little,  if  at  all,  since  the  days  when  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company  planted  them  at  the  Cape,  except  to  add  some  of 
the  vices  of  the  nineteenth  century  to  the  ignorance  of  the  seven- 
teenth. "In  some  of  the  elements  of  modern  civilization,"  says 
Mr.  Bryce,  a  witness  of  inspired  impartiality,  "they  have  gone 
back  rather  than  forward."  A  half-nomad  people,  of  sullen  and 
unsocial  temperament,  severed  from  Europe  and  its  influences  for 
over  two  hundred  years,  living  rudely  and  contentedly  on  the 
vast,  arid  holdings  where  their  sheep  and  cattle  are  pastured — each 
man  as  far  as  may  be  from  his  neighbor— disdaining  trade,  dis- 
daining agriculture,  ignorant  to  an  almost  inconceivable  degree  of 
Ignorance,  without  music,  literature  or  art,  superstitious,  grimly 
religious,  they  are  in  all  things,  except  courage  and  stubbornness 
of  character,  the  very  antithesis  of  the  strangers  settled  among 
them.  The  pairiarch  Abraham  in  Wall  Street  would  hardly  make 
an  odder  contrast.  The  Uitlanders  have  an  even  greater  share  of 
the  intelligence  of  the  country  than  of  its  wealth.  Nevertheless, 
they  are  kept  in  complete  subjection  to  their  bucolic  task-masters. 
1'hey  are  not  allowed  to  vote,  except  for  a  legislative  chamber  that 
cannot  legislate;  they  have  no  voice  in  the  spending  of  the  money 
taken  from  their  pockets;  they  see  millions  of  dollars  lavished  on 
the  secret  service  and  fortifications  at  Pretoria,  while  Johannes- 
burg remains  a  pest-hole;  their  language  is  proscribed  in  the 
schools  and  law-courts  of  a  city  where  not  one  man  in  a  thousand 
speaks  anything  but  English;  a  clipped  and  barren  dialect,  as  much 
beneath  pure  Dutch  as  Czechish  is  beneath  Russian,  is  enthroned 
in  its  place;  and  their  children  are  forced  to  learn  geography  and 
history  from  Dutch  text-books  after  passing  the  elementary  stand- 
ards— the  President,  with  a  directness  that  would  have  come  home 
to  the  late  ]\rr.  Dingley,  seeking  to  popularize  his  native  taal  by  a 
tax  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  upon  foreign  books. 

It  is  grotesque  to  think  of  Englishmen  and  Americans  being 
treated  in  this  fashion,  and  it  is  quite  beyond  imagination  that 
they  should  rest  passive  in  such  a  house  of  bondage.    The  restric- 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS. 
tions  on  franchise  and  education  fall  liardest,  not  on  the  capitalists 
and  largo  niin(>  owners,  wlio.are  mostly  absentees,  but  on  the  law- 
yers, doctors,  business  men  and  the  working  classes  who  have 
settled  in  the  Kand  district  less  as  a  speculation  than  to  make  it 
their  home  and  earn  a  living  and  bring  up  their  families     The 
recent  petition  from  the  Uitlanders  to  the  Queen  was  entirely  the 
work  of  professional  men  and  laborers.     Neither  Mr.  Rhodes,  nor 
the  Chartered  Company,  nor  the  capitalists  had  anythiixr  to  do 
with  It.     It  was  a  genuine  and  thoughtful  protest  from  the  average 
^vorkmg  immigrant  against  the  intolerable  oppression  to  which  he 
IS  subjected.    Even  raids  and  poets  laureate  cannot  weaken  the 
solidity  of  these  grievances.     "Diggers,"  ventured  an  Australian 
Premier     have  no  country."     That  may  hold  good  for  Coolgardie 
and  ^le  Klondyke,  but  not  for  the  Transvaal;  for  gold-mining  in 
the  liand  is  less  hazardous  and  uncertain  than  elsewhere      A 
payable  reef  once  found,  there  is  little  anxiety  of  its  suddenly  pe- 
tering out     Its  owner  can  reckon  with  some  coniidence  that  deep 
borings  will  show  the  same  percentage  of  gold  to  rock  as  appears 
near  the  surface;  and  this  unique  assurance  makes  it  possible  to 
speculate  approximately  on  the  duration  of  the  mines     The 
opinion  of  the  most  competent  specialists  seems  to  be  that  the  dis- 
trict, as  a  whole,  will  not  be  exhausted  for  fifty,  and  possibly  not 
for  seventy  or  eighty,  years  to  come.     This  puts  the  Eand  on  quite 
a  different  footing  Irom  the  gold-fields  of  Australia  and  California 
a  he  foreigners  who  have  rushed  to  Johannesburg  are,  for  the  most 
part   genuine  settlers,  men  who  look  forward  to  spendin-  their 
whole   ives  either  in  the  employment  of  the  mine-owners°  or  in 
he  ordinary  trades  and  professions  that  gather  round  the  centre 
of  a  great  industry.     They  are  not  of  the  order  of  speculative  tran- 
sients, whose  interest  m  their  new  resting  place  ceases  with  the 
disc^overy  and  exhaustion  or  sale  of  a  "lucky  strike."    In  other 

ri  t7  T  '77''''"'  '"^  '^'''  ''""*^y  ''  *'^«  Transvaal;  and 
as  men  who  have  taken  up  a  permanent  residence  in  it,  thev  de- 
inand  not  unreasonably,  that  it  should  be  made  politically  and 
socially  endurable.  ^ 

Before  the  discovery  of  gold  any  settler  in  the  Transvaal  could 
secure  the  electoral  franchise  after  a  residence  of  two  years.  The 
Boers  welcomed  the  money  that  flowed  into  the  exchequer  when 
the  value  of  the  Rand  district  became  known;  but  they  took  in^ 
stant  alarm  at  the  stream  of  capitalists,  engineers,  traders  and 


ft 


ENOLANt}  AND  THE  TRANSVAAL. 

hiiners— all  speaking  the  tongue  of  their  liereditary  foes— that 
threatened  to  overwhelm  their  independence.     To  jjreserve  the  po- 
litical status  quo,  they  raised  the  probationary  term  of  qualifica- 
tion for  the  franchise,  first  to  five  years  and  tlien  to  fifteen.    In 
1890,  as  a  soj)  to  the  inevitable  clamor  for  representation,  they 
created  a  Second  Volksraad  for  the  members  of  which  aliens  might 
vote  after  taking  the  oath  and  residing  for  two  years  in  the  coun- 
try.    As  the  Second  Volksraad  is  not  allowed  to  discuss  matters 
of  taxation  and  as  all  its  decrees  are  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
lirst  Volksraad — which  can  legislate  without  requiring  the  assent 
of  the  inferior  chamber — the  concession  is  not  worth  much.     At 
present  no  immigrant  can  vote  for  the  First  Volksraad  unless  he 
has  passed  the  age  of  forty  and  lived  for  at  least  fourteen  years  in 
the  country,  after  taking  the  oath  and  being  placed  on  the  govern- 
ment lists,  lists  on  which,  according  to  Mr.  Bryce,  the  local  au- 
thorities are  nowise  careful  to  place  him.     Even  the  niggardly  re- 
forms proposed  by  the  President  at  the  end  of  last  May  were  nega- 
tived by  his  burghers.     Practically,  the  Uitlanders  are  disenfran- 
chised.    In  every  other  state,  Dutch  and  English  stand  on  the 
same  equality.     In  the  Transvaal,  the  English  are  treated  like 
Kafirs.     They  have  not  only  taxation  without  representation,  but 
taxation  without  police,  without  sanitation,  without  schools,  witii- 
out  justice,  witliout  freedom  of  the  press,  without  liberty  of  as- 
sociation.    Johannesburg  is  ill-paved,  ill-lighted  and  abominably 
deficient  in  drainage  and  water-supply,  because  it  is  English.     The 
courts  of  law  have  been  prostituted  to  the  whims  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, in  defiance  of  the  written  Constitution  of  the  Republic,  that 
tliereby  the  English  might  be  deprived  of  their  one  legal  remedy 
3ainst  injustice.     Education,  except  in  the  Boer  taal,  is  forbid- 
"'U  above  the  third  standard,  in  the  hope  of  forcing  the  English 
.  nleam  their  native  tongue.     And  these  indignities  are  put 
upon  the  men  who  are  tlie  source  of  all  the  country's  prosperity, 
and  its  saviours  from  internal  dissolution. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that,  had  President  Krfiger  yielded 
to  the  demand  for  the  franchise  when  it  was  first  made,  he  would 
have  to-day,  in  the  gratitude  and  contenfment  of  his  new  citizens, 
the  best  guarantee  for  tlie  independence  of  the  Republic.  The 
suspiciousness  and  conservatism  of  the  Boer  character  dictated  a 
policy  of  refusal  and  delay  and  unfulfilled  promises,  from  the  ef- 
fects of  which  the  state  luis  been  saved  more  by  the  mistakes  of  its 


BRITAW.'.ND  THE  BOEltS. 

epponents  than  by  the  President's  own  shi-rndncss     If  the  ei 
istcuce  of  tlie  liei.ublic  seems  to  be  imperillcl  to-iliiv  Presicfcnt 
Kr  ger  has  chiefly  himself  to  thank  for  it.    His    ^^tano    to  a 
Jiist  demand  has  driven  the  Uitlanders,  by  a  proeese  clmon  t^ 
most  politieal  agitations,  to  put  forward  oU,er 'and      3   Znab 
laims.    A  sec  , on  of  the  excluded  settlers  ha,  started  f  1  c  Z  y 
baaed  on  Great  Britain's  suzerainty,  that  the  taking  of    he  oa'h 
01  allegiance  to  the  Transvaal  does  not  involve  the  su  render  of 
Jlntish  eitizenship.    If  ,he  contention  were  sound,  Presid™t  KrO 
t-er  wou  d  be  well  within  hi,  right,  in  refusing  th   tan  h  "e  to  aH 
such  hjbnd  ejtizens.    But  the  argument  will  not  hold       er  fo 

England  have  condemned  and  disowned  it.    A  British  subicct  on 
sweanng  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  South  Afrie  n  Lpu     c  or 

Z° a";  b  f  '  '"*'"  "  °""  °"  '"»  "«"'=  °'  ^"«*  -"-- 
y  p.ty  a  contrary  plea  was  ever  urged.    It  ha,  only  served  to 
misrepresent  the  intention,  of  the  average  Ditlander,.  ^AsTbodv 
he  U.tlander,  demand,  firstly,  such  an  alteration  of  the  prcS 
ftanchise  law  as  will  give  them  at  least  an  effective  minorir  ep 
resentafon;  secondly,  permission  to  educate  their  children  nlhX 
own  tongne;  and  thirdly,  a  rearrangement  of  the  tariff.    The  pre 
ewBtr  fT'""  "^"J'*  °'  •'""annesburg  for  the  ben  fit  Ta 

an  inordi'rr  °"*  '^T  "'^  "^^  °'  *«  "»«-'«='  "^  '"«  to 
c,o».l   .        ,  I ""•    ^'""■"^  "■'^  omnipotence  of  a  few  lar™ 

naraiy  upon  Natal,  the  Orange  Free  Slate  and  Cane  Colonv  a, 

Sctir:;ueTtb''rf '^ ""  "°*™»"  eiasse:-^  *,!  eLi 

mletth  entmeef  '"*'  "'"  °'  "«'^'  ""=  '^"^  ■"■*  ">  "  '» 
The  capitaUsts  have  grievances  of  their  own    which  their 

keep  well  to  the  front.  The  nature  and  continuance  of  t le^ 
gne vanec,  show  to  what  length,  the  distrust  felt  by  the  Boer^  ^ 
ward,  the  Bnt.sh  will  carry  them,  even  to  the  deitaen  rf  the 
ut  p'o  irvtT"-    ■""  «°^'™"'™'  °'  "•"  Transvaa ,1  m  d 

caleuIatcrthat%S  V     ''*'^  "  "^  """"*  '""°''  '™ 

crease  Z  !    *    .         legislation  and  administration  would  de- 

crease  the  cost  of  production  by  about  thirty  per  cent.    Hea^ 


4 


■*IU^ 


■n 


m 


■If 


ENGLAND  AND  THE  TRANSVAAL. 

duties  are  levied  on  machinery  and  chemicals;  the  tariff  more  than 
doubles  the  price  of  maize,  which  is  the  chief  food  of  the  native 
workmen;  and  the  liquor  laws,  by  making  it  easy  for  Kafirs  to  get 
drunk,  reduce  the  supply  of  regular  labor  and  greatly  incrtaoe  the 
number  of  accidents.    But  the  loudest  complaints  are  directed 
against  the  dynamite  and  railroad  monopolies,  from  the  first  of 
which  the  state  derives  not  a  penny  in  compensation,  and  from 
the  second  a  mere  fraction  of  the  sum  that  goes  into  the  pockets 
of  German  and  Butch  stockholders.    The  dynamite  monojjoly 
was  granted  to  a  German  firm  some  years  ago,  and  securely  hedged 
around  by  a  prohibitive  duty  on  the  imported  article.    The  usual 
consequences  have  followed.    The  dynamite  is  poor  in  quality 
and  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  higher  in  price  than  it  ought  to  be.    The 
Netherlands  Company,  which  owns  all  the  railroads  in  the  Trans- 
vaal, joins  in  the  merry  war  of  extortion  with  a  series  of  out- 
rageous freight  charges.     Taken  altogether,  these  impositions 
make  a  difference  of  three  or  four  per  cent,  on  the  dividends  of 
the  best  mines,  threaten  the  prospect  of  any  dividend  on  the  sec- 
ond best,  and  make  it  useless  to  persevere  with  those  of  a  still 
lower  grade;  the  state  treasury,  of  course,  suffering  in  proportion.* 
One  most  unwholesome  result  of  this  policy  is  that  the  rich  mines, 
which  can  bear  the  exactions,  buy  up  the  poorer  ones  that  cannot, 
and  so  tend  to  bring  almost  the  entire  Eand  into  the  hands  of  two 
or  three  capitalists. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  President  'Krtiger  has  carried 
with  him  the  unanimous  support  even  of  his  own  countrymen  in 
making  repression  the  keynote  of  his  policy.  There  has  always 
been  among  the  Boers  a  small  and  liberal  minority  that  favors  re- 
forms, and  sees  in  the  persistent  refusal  of  the  franchise  a  weapon 
of  offence  placed  in  the  hands  of  their  enemies.  This  minority  is 
still  further  incensed  by  the  President's  importation  of  Hollanders 
to  fill  the  government  offices,  and  by  his  reckless  defiance  of  the 
Constitution  in  making  the  Supreme  Court  subservient  to  the 
Volksraad.  Nor  have  the  more  enlightened  Dutch  of  Cape 
Colony  and  the  Orange  Free  State  stood  unreservedly  on  the  side 
of  their  northern  kinsmen.  It  is  true  that  if  any  attack  were 
made  on  the  independence  of  the  Transvaal,  their  racial  sympa- 
thies might  bring  them  to  the  support  of  the  Boers;  but  they  are 

•I  am  Indebted  for  these  and  other  facts  to  Mr.  Bryce's  "  Impressions  qf  South 
Africa, '  a  book  the  value  and  tborougbnesB  of  wbicn  are  bardly  to  be  Inferred 
from  the  modesty  of  its  title. 


-J 


BRITAIN  AXD  THE  BOEliS. 
hardly  less  desirous  than  the  Uitlanders  of  seeing  the  unrest  at 
Johannesburg  put  an  end  to.     The  heavy  turilf  on  wool,  wines, 
i)randy  and  t'ood-stufl's  all  but  closes  the  richest  market  in  South 
Africa  to  their  staple  exports;  and  they,  like  everyone  south  of  the 
Zambesi,  feel  the  eil'ects  of  the  discontent  that  radiates  from  the 
Transvaal,  i)aralyzing  comuiercial  enterprise  and  development, 
and  wrapping  the  whole  country  in  a  cloud  of  uncertainties. 
While  opposed  to  any  forcible  interference  with  the  domestic  af- 
fairs of  their  kinsmen,  they  have  used  their  influence  more  than 
once,  but  never  with  much  ctl'ect,  in  the  direction  of  peace  and 
moderation.     The  President's  strength  lies  in  the  aptitude  of  his 
appeals  to  the  spirit  and  prejudices  of  the  Old  lioer  party.     These 
stalwart  conservatives  concentrate  all  their  hatred  and  contempt 
for  foreign  ways  and  customs  upon  the  British,  the  only  enemies 
they  have  known.     It  was  to  escape  from  British  rule  that  their 
forefathers  struck  out  from  tiie  Cape,  across  the  wilderness,  and 
founded  a  Eepublic  of  their  own.    The  incidents  of  the  Great 
Trek  in  the  thirties,  of  which  the  President  is  the  last  survivor, 
are  still  held  in  patriotic  memory.     The  British  annexed  the  new- 
born state  under  pledges  delayed  so  long  that  the  Boers  took  up 
arms  to  enforce  them  and  won  back  their  old  independence.     The 
British  stopped  the  expansion  of  the  Transvaal  on  the  north  by 
occupying  Matabeleland  and  Mashonaland,  and  on  the  west  by 
pouncing  upon  Bechuanaland.     It  was  with  British  gold,  and 
under  the  command  of  Biitish  officers,  that  the  raid  of  1895  was 
planned  and  carried  out.     Small  wonder  that  the  Boers  saw  and 
still  see  in  tlie  demand  for  the  franchise  only  another  British  plot 
to  rob  them  of  their  independence.    The  Uitlanders  had  come 
into  the  country  uninvited  and  undesired,  seeking  only  gold,  and 
with  full  warning  that  it  was  a  Boer  Republic  they  were  entering. 
By  what  right  could  these  strangers  of  yesterday  claim  to  be  put 
on  a  level  with  the  old  burghers,  who  had  fought  and  bled  to  keep 
the  state  free  from  alien  control?     And  what  Boer,  looking  to  the 
past  experiences  of  his  people  with  the  English,  could  guarantee 
that  their  capture  of  the  franchise  would  not  lead  to  their  capture 
of  the  entire  state,  that  the  Eepublic  would  not  become  an  Eng- 
lish Republic  with  an  lOnglish  President,  and  its  original  founders 
a  despised  and  oppressed  minority? 

It  would  have  been  a  high  achievement  in  diplomacy  if  Sir 
Alfred  :Milner  could  have  pcisuaded  the  President,  and  through 


;/i 


,u^. 


unrcBt  at 
ol,  wines, 
in  South 
ith  of  the 
from  tlie 
L'lopment, 
M'tuinties. 
nestic  af- 
lore  than 
)eace  and 
(le  of  his 
■.    These 
contempt 
■  enemies 
hat  their 
less,  and 
be  Great 
survivor, 
the  new- 
took  up 
3e.    The 
lorth  by 
west  b;,' 
3ld,  and 
895  was 
saw  and 
tish  plot 
id  come 
old,  and 
ntering. 
)  be  put 
to  keep 
g  to  the 
larantee 
capture 
m  Eng- 
oundera 

y  if  Sir 
through 


*. 
^ 


E.WLAND  A\D  THR  TRANSVAAL, 

him  the  Boert,  that  their  fears,  if  not  baseless,  are  very  unlikely 
to  be  realized.     So  long  as  the  reasonable  grievances  of  the  Uit- 
landers  arc  met  with  an  obstinate  non  possumus,  the  Transvaal 
runs  the  risk  of  perishing  suddenly  and  in  violence.    The  danger 
can  only  be  avoided  by  altering  the  franchise  laws  to  give  Johan- 
nesburg a  voice,  not  necessarily  a  preponderating  voice,  in  the 
government  of  the  country;  and  by  removing  the  barriers  upon 
the  education  of  Knglish  children  in  Knglish.     A  revision  of  the 
dynamite  and  railroad  monopolies,  and  a  rearrangement  of  the 
ttiriir  schedule,  would  give  the  ca[)itnlists  all  the  privileges  they 
care  for,  and  at  the  same  time  add  largely  to  the  revenue  of 
the  Republic.     It  is  clear  that  the  old  suspicious  policy  of  denial 
ar,d  opposition  bas  only  endangered  the  security  it  was  foolishly 
nneant  to  safeguard.    The  best  hope  for  the  independence  of  the 
state  must  lie  in  the  happiness  and  contentment  of  its  citizens; 
and  that  contentment  can  only  be  reached  by  abolishing  racial 
discriminations  and  putting  British  and  Boer  on  an  equality  be- 
fore the  law.     Under  a  rigime  of  frankness  and  conciliation,  the 
two  peoples  will  be  able  in  time  to  forget  their  former  animosities 
and  come  together  in  harmony  and  good-fellowship,  as  they  did 
in  the  early  days  of  the  American  colonies,  as  they  still  do  in  Cape 
Colony.    The  newly  enfranchised  citizens,  no  more  the  victims  of 
a  mediiEval  oligarchy,  will  then  be  as  little  tempted  to  hoist  the 
British  flag  over  Pretoria  as  the  French  in  Canada  to  return  to 
their  old  allegiance.     The  people  of  England  have  no  hostility 
towards  the  Boers,  and  no  ambition  to  annex  their  country.    They 
have,  on  the  contrary,  an  uncomfortable  feeling  that,  in  their 
clashes  with  the  Transvaal,  the  British  reputation  for  fair-deal- 
ing, which  so  long  as  it  is  deserved  is  the  backbone  of  the  Empire, 
has  not  been  altogether  maintained.    They  admire  the  old  Presi- 
dent's pluck  and  shrewdness  and  wish  him  well  in  his  struggle, 
even  where  they  have  to  condemn  his  methods  of  carrying  it  on. 
They  cannot  find  much  in  his  policy  that  is  defensible  except  its 
object,  and  yet  they  feel  that,  were  they  in  his  place,  they  would 
liave  done  much  as  he  has  done;  and  it  is  because  they  are  sincere 
in  wishing  the  Transvaal  to  outlast  the  life-time  of  its  rugged 
champion,  that  they  look  to  him  even  at  the  eleventh  hour  to 
overcome  prejudice  and  rebuild  his  state  on  the  only  foundation 
that  has  in  it  the  promise  of  permanence. 

Sydney  Brooks. 


A  VINDICATION  OF  THE  BOERS. 

A  EEJOINDER  TO  MR.  SYDNEY  BROOKS. 

BY  A   DIPLOMAT. 


One  of  the  principal  arguments  used  against  the  Boers  is 
that  they  are  not  only  a  stationary,  but  a  positively  retrograde,  peo- 
ple. Among  the  proofs  adduced  to  substantiate  this  charge,  no 
one  has  thought,  "et  pour  cause,"  of  mentioning  the  fact  that 
they  are  totally  ignorant  of  the  art  of  using  the  press  as  a 
means  of  influencing  public  opinion. 

The  English,  with  whom,  through  centuries  of  initiation,  the 
press  has  become  such  a  mighty  instrument  of  combat  or  propa- 
ganda, have  flooded  the  world  with  a  mass  of  publications  de- 
signed to  ruin  the  Boer  cause  in  both  hemispheres.     The  success 
of  this  campaign  has  been  facilitated  by  the  fact  that  foreign  in- 
terests in  the  Transvaal,  other  than  English,  could  only  hope  to 
benefit  by  it  simultaneously  with  the  English  interests.     Thus, 
the  United  States  and  even  France  have  endorsed  the  British  view- 
of  the  question.     On  the  other  hand,  the  Boers  have  done  noth- 
ing to  meet  their  adversaries  on  this  most  important  field  of  in- 
ternational warfare.     Trusting  exclusively  to  diplomatic  action 
and  military  resistance  to  foil  the  purpose  of  the  English— with 
what  success  in  the  former  line  the  ostentatious  passage  of  the 
German  Emperor  from  sympathy  to  indifl^erence,  and  the  open 
opposition  of  France  to  their  claims,  have  already  told  us;   and, 
m  the  latter  line,  England's  determination  makes  it  only  too  easy 
to  predict— they  have  totally  neglected  to  enlist  public  sympathy 
in  foreign  countries  on  their  side;  and  yet  their  case  ofl'ers  aspects 
which,  properly  presented,  could  not  fail  to  cause  the  impartial 
mind  to  pause  and  deny  the  righteousness  of  the  English  demands. 
Whether  this  feeling  would  take  the  form  of  any  practical  ad- 


:1 


.1  VINDICATION  OF  THE  BOERS. 


5. 


Boers  is 
rade,  peo- 
large,  no 
fact  that 
'ess  as  a 

tion,  the 
)r  propa- 
tions  de- 
e  success 
reign  in- 
hope  to 
.     Tims, 
iish  view 
ne  noth- 
Id  of  in- 
e  action 
h — with 
e  of  the 
he  open 
is;   and, 
too  easy 
anpathy 
I  asj)ect3 
npartial 
emands. 
ical  ad- 


f 


•vantage  to  the  Boers,  is  more  than  questionable;  but  it  is  al- 
ways desirable  for  a  nation,  if  only  in  the  interest  of  morality  and 
its  own  reputation,  to  establish  its  innocence  and  proclaim  the 
guilt  of  the  aggressor. 

It  has  struck  the  writer  of  these  pages  that  what  the  Boer  gov- 
ernment and  citizens  have  refrained  from  doing,  a  foreigner, 
totally  unconnected  with  them,  might  think  of  achieving,  prompt- 
ed thereto  simply  by  his  sympathy  with  the  persecuted,  and  by  the 
innate  impulse  of  man  to  disprove  error  and  combat  injustice. 
By  placing  myself  on  the  broad  grounds  of  public  and  interna- 
tional law,  natural  equity  and  history,  I  hope  to  cover  the  whole 
subject  of  the  debate  now  raging  between  the  "Paramount  Power" 
in  South  Africa  and  the  Boers,  and  so  help  in  popularizing  the 
conclusion  that  the  Transvaal  is  only  fighting  for  dear  life  against 
a  foe  who  is  meditating  a  crime  nearly  as  great  as  was  the  sup- 
pression of  Poland. 

Before  going  deeper  into  the  matter,  I  should  like  to  express 
the  sentiment  that,  in  constituting  myself  the  champion  of  the 
Boers,  or  rather  of  international  faith  and  honesty,  in  a  United 
States  Review,  I  address  myself  more  particularly  to  that  section 
of  the  American  people  whose  inborn  love  of  truth  and  justice 
will  not  allow  their  judgment  to  be  obscured  by  sympathy  of  race, 
or  by  a  certain  analogy  of  situations  and  methods  of  solution  be- 
tween what  was  the  Cuban  Question  for  the  Americans,  and  what 
is  the  Transvaal  Question  for  the,  English. 

The  July  number  of  the  NoiiTii  American  Review  contains 
a  very  interesting  article  by  Mr.  Sydney  Brooks,  dealing  with  the 
subject  we  have  in  hand  from  the  English  point  of  view.  It  has 
occurred  to  me  that  an  excellent  way  of  carrying  out  my  object 
is  to  follow  Mr.  Brooks  in  his  very  complete  statement  of  the  case, 
esteeming  that,  if  I  can  prove  the  appreciations  of  this  earnest 
and  well  equipped  upholder  of  the  Uitlander  Credo  to  be  false,  I 
shall  have  achieved  a  sufficient  triumph  for  the  Boers. 

After  deploring  the  breakdown  of  the  negotiations  between 
President  KrUger  and  Sir  Alfred  Milner,  in  which  sentiment 
everybody  must  join,  Mr.  Brooks  prefaces  his  account  of  the 
present  condition  of  affairs  in  the  Transvaal  with  a  short  review 
of  what  is  known  as  tlie  Suzerainty  question.  From  this  de- 
Bcrii)tion  we  gather  that,  as  a  result  of  a  struggle  reaching  far 
back  into  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  marked  by  the  pas- 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS. 
Bionate  attachment  of  the  Bopr«  +n  f^.-    •  j    '    , 
lesser  tenacity  of  k^VmTonZ  iJ^l'^^'^'fr'  »"<'  ''^  » 
tioi,s  were  concI„ded-„„e  at  lS»  t       f."*' ■"''  "'°  '=™^«'- 
last  of  which,  althou-^h  rivil  ,?        '        """^  '"  ^°°'^°'';  *'« 
maintained  b^  Enind  over ll     t  '  ^'■'""  '"'""  °'  "»  ™'horily 
defeat  at  Ma/uba  H  il  etm  ktt  .1™  «™",'  """-"'-'"ding  the 
iection  to  Eilish  conC  n  te  or  r"''  T'"  '  »""^  »'  -b- 
goes  on  to  say,  and  he  Drove,  ifT         ,       """S^-    M"--  Broolia 
tial  control-iali  it  Watat  J  S™"  .'^■'''"'  *'=  "«"  »'  P^- 
no  importance-to  which  Cl!n,lr°"^''''"«  '''=''  "■"  t"™  ^'s 
ially  since  the  diselve;  of^^j 'n  .r T  "' "™"^™'-' ^'P-" 
worthless  instrument  in  herCd     'h'         f™"''  '=™="""«  » 
gall  to  the  Boers.    Finallv  Mr   R     ?  "  "  "■''™«ood  and 

gestion  shonld  bo  pLtteuhrlf  „„^i  °?  r^^'^''-^"^  ""^  ™«- 
Mea  of  a  solution  !t  the  Tr  nsv^»  '  l""'"''^  "  '^""'°*<'»  ^^ 
render  of  this  right  o  control  i^"'""'""''"  "'"  '»"  sur- 
o-d  might  be  a  mean   Ta 'bt       ^'  ""■'  °'  "'^  '^'>8lish  should 

dispute:  becanseThere  arc  Xil''  f ""'™'  ■"  "'^  »«•"«  - 
Krager  would  not  be  glad  to  It  ^-  '^"'/™'^^=^i™=  ftesident 
"imitations  on  the  full  fZl^lt  .1%  ''  *°  T""  ""^  *"» 
Kepnblie  on  an  equality  w.tif !:[  B^IS  •™'  ""  "'"^  '"^ 

vantarfor^EnglS  tt"!''''  ''™*-    "  "  '^  ^  "'-"■7  ad- 
grantfd  by  tttndon%tr.°oT t':  "17, '"^  ^"''^™''-  "' 
a  concession  to  the  lienuMn  ,    ,'      f  "^  '"  '"'  '"^  '""=<"■/ 
empty  words.    Undoubted;    h    7    "  '""■  •'■"  "^f'^'  <"  ""^ 
isfaction  from  the  pr3i  !   f^  """'  """"  "  ""''l  ^»*- 
lut,  before  makin.  a  b    r„      *f .  v"  ™'"l'''^'«  '"dependence; 
of  whose  shrewdtss  Mr  T    I    "'  '''"'^•'""'  ^''''^i''™'  Krllger 
i<  that  he  doe  noTgi "  ;,f;::th,;'«"'^  "^"^'''  »-'  -'to' 
<"in-    Whv,  if  the  nro„o,iH„.,    f  >     '"i"''' '"  '""''""f^'  '^  f"'*" 

an  it  signmes  tt  2';^  g:?/^'- :f ^^ ^  '"^■"■'"*  ^' 

iHficant  state  of  don-^nrlpnr^r  •  .  "^^"*^^"^^  ^^^elf  from  an  insi-r. 
for  the  enfranchi  emen  Tthl  V^^'  T'"l  ''  '"»  T"-™''' 
weapon  with  whicl  "he  E^^.th':  trf '  ''  J"  "^'  '"  ^ 
over  it.  There  is  mockery  in  Mr  Lm"  ,  """'''''*'  ™''«y 
may  deny  this  by  saying  7s  'in  Z  lltl  tT^""""  '1 
"s  argument,  that  the  enfranchisement  „t,?F  ,  ""'T  "' 
lead  to  any  substitution  of  authority  in  the  T  *^ ,"''  "'"  °'" 
^a.so;  '<utwhocanhelpsmi,i„g;;t:h:deJ:rn"-  H^ev:^ 


nee  and  by  a 
I  two  conven- 
London;  the 
the  authority 
standing  tlie 
state  of  sub- 
Mr.  Brooks 
right  of  par- 
he  term  has 
ervor,  espec- 
•onstitutes  a 
'mwood  and 
id  this  SUO-- 
inbodies  his 
e  total  sur- 
flish  should 
le  affairs  in 
5  ^'resident 
P  away  the 
J  place  the 

llusory  ad- 
ansvaal,  as 
ss  illusory 
3t  of  mero 
moral  sat- 
pendence; 
t  KrUger, 
list  see  to 
?  for  false 
ything  at 
an  insi-x- 
rransvaal 
!ay,  for  a 
mastery 
lough  he 
'ourse  of 
will  not 
He  may 
lowever. 


'  f 


A  VINDICATION  OF  THE  BOERS. 

this  aspect  of  the  case  should  not  concern  us  just  yet.  Let  us 
lirst  look  into  the  matter  of  enfrancliisement,  considered  as  a 
grievance  of  the  Uitlanders,  and  speak  of  it  together  with  their 
other  complaints. 

The  whole  Transvaal  issue  hinges  on  one  question:  Have  the 
Boers  the  right  to  govern  themselves  as  they  choose;  or,  rather, 
have  the  English  the  right  to  interfere  with  the  form  of  govern- 
ment, administration  and  life  that  the  Boers  have  chosen  for 
themselves?  The  answer  to  this  query  involves  considerations  of 
public  and  international  law  which  are  of  great  importance. 

It  is  the  practice  of  those  Powers  who  have  embarked  on  coloni- 
zntion  to  occupy  territories  belonging  to  savage  or  semi-savage 
populations,  without  much  reference  to  the  lawfulness  of  the  op- 
eration. In  this  way,  England,  France,  Germany,  ill-advised 
Italy,  and,  recently,  the  United  States  have  spread  their  domin- 
ion over  immense  tracts  of  country.  ChallengeJ  to  prove  the 
justiliableness  of  their  conduct,  they  will  begin  by  solemnly  invok- 
ing the  clauses  of  conventions  concluded  with  local  potentates;  and, 
when  the  flimsiness  and  utter  hypocrisy  of  this  line  of  defence  are 
denounced — for  we  all  know  the  i)art  that  intimidation  and  gin 
play  in  these  transactions — they  fall  back  on  the  plea  that  they 
are  acting  in  the  name  of  the  higher  interests  of  humanity;  nay, 
some  say,  and  they  have  said  it  in  verse  (vide  Kipling's  poem  on 
"The  White  Man's  Burden"),  that  they  are  sacrificing  them- 
selves in  behalf  of  a  high  notion  of  duty.  Thus,  quite  a  new  doe- 
trine  has  sprung  up.  Undoubtedly,  the  substitution  of  enlight- 
ened European  or  American  rule  for  the  primitive  and  too  often 
ferocious  modes  of  savage  administration  benefits  mankind  and 
the  natives  themselves,  for  whom  it  is  not  much  of  a  gain,  but 
still  a  gain,  to  die  from  gin  instead  of  by  murdering  one  another. 
Yet  it  would  seem  that  there  is  something  lame  in  the  colonial 
doctrine,  si'-ce,  even  in  the  most  flagrant  cases  of  incapacity  on 
the  part  of  barbarous  races  to  govern  themselves,  the  violent  or 
stealthy  occupation  of  their  territories  causes  a  secret  unrest  to 
the  public  conscience  and  mind.  This  uneasiness  does  not  re- 
sult so  much  from  the  long  standing  conviction,  confirmed  l)y  the 
accusations  imprudently  hurled  by  the  Powers  against  one  another 
in  their  spiteful  moods,  that  national,  and  sometimes  only  per- 
sonal, greed  is  at  the  biutom  of  colonization,  as  from  a  deeper, 
though  vaguer,  source  of  misgiving.    If  we  exert  our  mimls  to 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS 

give  body  and  shape  to  this  fppllr,,, 

«tinctive  revolt  of  our  nature  at  °f  ^°  T^^^^^^^«  ^^  it  the  in- 
foundations  of  society  and  t. If  "''f''''^  *^^*  "^^^^^^^^  ^ho 
-use  it  is  the  indirect  negal"  th  ""-^  ''^*"^^  ^^^^  '- 
wiiether  individual  or  national  Th!f  . v  ^"''"^^^  ^^  P^^P^^^^', 
tains  the  germ  of  shocking  dLbLo...r  '''  '"'  *^^*  ^^  ^«^- 
-a  germ  u-hose  growth  Lin    to  ?'  .  ^''''  "^  *^^  ^°^^J' 

^"eeting  of  the  confer  nee   v'ich  T,  '''^  ""'''  ''''''''  '^^ 

strikingly  proved  by  w'aTi  g  '  on'  'p?'  ''  ''''  ^«°"^-- 
more  special  interest  to  us  bv  t  fe  .  ?  ?'''''  '''^'  ^^^*  ^«  ^^ 
the  Transvaal.  '    ^  *^''  '^'^^^  ^""^^dly  preparing  in 

-d  Ast  ttliT^t'oHlfe  tit  :?"'"  '°^"^^"^^^  °^  ^^-- 
tions  has  come,  by  a  steep   ncZ  ^^'"'T  '''''  ^^^  ^^^^^^a- 

.  ence  to  countries  like  the  Ce  sS,  %  "^'.'^  ^^^°  ^^^^  ^t  has  refer- 
!-•  Between  the  Zulus  and  thr/"^"^^"'  "^^  ^^^  ^^I-b- 
Ouly  one  of  degree.  F  ne  rea  oni.  ?  '"^'*  ^^  "^^  ^i^^^^^^^? 
petration  of  any  outra'on  S  ,  ^'^'^'j  '^'  ^'^>^  ^^^  the  per- 
or  weak  States.  "^         ^'"'  ^'^''^^  ^°<^  sovereignty  of  minor 

I  do  not  mean  to  Gciniraii{r,4-         j- 
Bi-cere,  notwithstanding  the  i  onvT      '"""■  '*'"™'''=''  "'"'^k  « 
the  general  proflt  arising  fomT     ,T'  '°  ™'"'""'  '^Sarding 
barbarism-espocially  vhenae  h    T    '""''""  "'  ""lizatlon  for 
-and  the  jnslifleation  o"   f of/^f  "'  ^  ^""^^--T  Mnd 
what  I  want  to  p„i„t  „°  t  fe^w   i       T'f  ^  '^  ™'''  '='""'^;  but 
a  principle  i,as  h^en  mZ^t^^T^^^-  '""'  »'  "-J- 
in  Its  aim  and  wording  anri  fi      V  '''^'  ^^'^ause  it  is  looso 

We  are  thus  confrold  ^  tTant?  f^  ^"T  "P^  '»  abuse: 
govern  in  the  Transvaal-enfran,h,f  ^  "'""  °^  '''"  '="«"*  '» 
lolloped  by  threat,  of  ^^Ji^C'TT  T"'  ""'^'"S  <"=«- 

The  demonstration  of  *L     ^        ™'  ''"'""<"'■ 
undertaken  by  Mr  Zots  Jh  "tn";,'"  °'  ""^  ""''''  ^  »«g"'y 
vaal  "almost  too  fantastielr  ,  ""  '''"""'"'  '-  ">e  Trans^ 

hand,  we  are  P-senteTwi^ra TSTr^'r''  "^  *'-  "^ 
achievements  of  the  Uitlander,  "ft  ,f  t^  "^  *«  1™li««  and 
tare  of  the  Boers,  whieh  rep^s'ents  t  '^  """  "  ^''""'"  P'- 
barous  condition.    Mr.  Brooks  ™t'      ''  ^'"°="  '"  "  =™i-bar- 


ize  in  it  the  in- 
lat  threatens  the 
'ctrine  does,  bo- 
5le  of  property, 
and  that  it  con- 
ee  of  the  world, 
ore  farcical  the 
the  Hague — is 
md,  what  is  of 
'j  preparing  in 

tions  of  Africa 
es  and  civiliza- 
it  it  has  refer- 
3  Boer  Eepub- 
he  difference? 
y  for  the  per- 
?nty  of  minor 

ent,  which  is 
in,  regarding 
vilization  for 
guinarj  kind 
2h  cases;  but 
our  of  need, 
se  it  is  loose 
en  to  abuse. 
3  English  to 
thing  else — 

's  is  eagerly 
the  Trans- 
On  the  one 
aalities  and 
sombre  pic- 
a  semi-bar- 


ent,  severed 
ears,  living 
their  sheep 
^  his  Qeigh< 


A  VINDICATION  OF  THE  BOERS. 

bor— disdaining  trade,  disdaining  agriculture,  ignorant  to  an  almost 
inconceivable  degree  of  ignorance,  without  music,  literature  or  art, 
superstitious,  grimly  religious,  they  are  In  all  things,  except  courage 
and  stubbornness  of  character,  the  very  antithesis  of  the  strangers 
settled  among  them." 

And  yet,  horribile  dictu,  these  strangers  arc  kept  "in  complete 
subjection  to  their  bucolic  task  masters."  Thus,  out  of  the  su- 
periority of  the  Uitlanders  arises  a  demand  for  a  share  in  the 
legislation  of  the  Transvaal;  and,  because  this  is  opposed,  it  be- 
comes an  additional  grievance,  the  principal  one. 

Now,  what  are  the  specific  grievances  originally  formulated  by 
the  Uitlanders?  Mr.  Brooks  speaks  of  bad  administration,  as  il- 
lustrated by  the  absence  of  sufficient  police  and  sanitary  arrange- 
ments, by  the  prostitution  of  the  law  courts  to  the  whims  of 
the  legislature,  and  by  the  adoption  of  prohibitive  measures 
against  commerce  and  industry  and  the  spread  of  the  English  lan- 
guage. Even  if  this  is  a  correct  representation  of  the  state  of 
things  in  the  Transvaal — and  it  may  be,  except  in  its  reference  to 
justice,  which  is  susceptible  of  reservations — the  English  cannot 
make  it  a  plea  for  the  suppression  of  Boer  government,  because 
tliat  government,  although  primitive  and  slowly  progressive,  as 
1  can  afford  to  admit  it  is,  does  not  come  within  the  class  of  in- 
stitutions which  are  an  outrage  to  the  moral  feelings  of  man- 
kind and  provide  the  only  excuse  a  State  can  invoke  for  the  sup- 
pi  ession  of  another  State.  Xo  Englishman,  I  hope,  will  deny 
that  the  essential  notions  of  morality,  if  not  of  civilization,  pervade 
the  Transvaal  State.  What  is  missing  in  it,  is  a  set  of  institutions 
and  ideas  productive  of  well  being  and  luxury.  The  faculty  of  a 
people  to  dispense  with  these,  calls  forth  the  frequent  commenda- 
tion of  the  English  themselves  in  their  political  and  social  litera- 
ture, as  well  as  in  their  current  talk,  with  the  help  of  expressions 
such  as  "healthy  simplicity  of  life,"  "freedom  from  the  enervating 
and  corrupting  intluences  of  civilization,"  and  so  forth.  Be- 
sides, the  unfriendliness  of  the  soil,  as  well  as  the  geographical 
situation,  of  the  Transvaal,  together  with  other  circumstances, 
conspired  to  maintain  the  Boer  community  in  the  state  of 
primitiveness  to  which  it  adhered  as  a  matter  of  temperament,  as 
well  as  of  social  and  religious  principle.  If,  even  after  the  discov- 
ery of  the  gold  mines,  it  did  not  adopt  the  Anglo-Saxon  ideal  of  a 
State,  it  was — supposing  there  be  any  necessity  to  justify  a  be- 
lated form  of  existence  in  a  nation  on  other  grounds  than  that  of 


^^JI'AIN  AND  2HE  BOERS 

by  opposing  the  spread  of  U"™  ol  [7'- T'  '  ^»^'  ''»'"■»« 
confines,  ,t  hoped  to  diseoura^e  the  .■"«  ?"'""««■>  '"thin  its 
P'osence,  especially  i.  that  oml  p'iT  °  '"'"■«"^^«'  i"  >vhose 
«i  the  germ  „f  ^  great  da  JrT„  j^  f'f '  " '""nediatelj-  deleet- 
™rt,a  of  the  Boers  in  tkoZtte  Ifj"  ""'■  ^"  '"='■  '"e 
tt  creating  obstacles  to  the  dev![  °™''  "<>  "'«■•  activity 

»«>-ce  and  to  the  use  of  (L  r^^r"'  "'  '"'<'"s''y  and  com 
2%  b,  t^,  thought  a   b!'th^;tt"5-«^'  are'insp- .cd™" 
the  Enghsh  are  free  fo  eal  -'"-*-"-'°"al  aversion  to  what 

tee  0  call  "the  curses,"  of V         .'''™f/'  ""'l  'vhat  /%  ^e 
"h-ch  a  State  is  more  Mrt  cul„rlv  7;    f  "'™  »  ™^  duty  t^ 
«  the  obligation  to  nia.ntata  il.  ^  ^f'"^  *"''  *»  «W  other    t 
-terests  to  those  of  other  We^'tr;.""'  '"  ^'^''^  "»  «»» 
Boers  are  distinctly  justiiiedT->  ,      '  ""''"^  '"  "w.  the 

the  British;  and  there  are  Sht  "Jf  ""^ng  the  complaints  „? 
'^»«th  in  their  indifenee t  jh  ",'  '"'  ^°"^  »  »«Cater 
pans  for  the  national  saTty,';  tut tf  °?'""'  '"  '^^'^B 

"h:x:nd  in?n°'  *<■''-"  s^^^^^^^    '^^  "'-^^-^ 

.ations.        '^  °"^  '«-'  Of  the  State  are  the  supreme  ,aw  of 

«-cru;„ttnt"ard1:*itr  f  r  "°  "-  ^°™  ^^  ^o™right 
-the  Transvaal;  and,  if  anf G^rk"  '"  '""'  '"^^  *  "  ^ 
"presentations  to  another  o^n  tUsl^'r  T^  """''=  »'  """'"g 
*  'nmdly  and  olTieious  way  i,  !„  '''  "*"=''  "  <=«"  only  do  in 
"  'ts  own  eye.  Need  I  „t  .1  ;  "'"'  ',' '"'"''  ■">'  =»  the  beaS 
neet-on?  Need  I  ,note  tC  Untd ".f""  f^™'""^  »  *'»  con" 
England  herself?  ?vho  is  ign„™  „f  f ''  ^'^>'  "^d  I  quote 
••language"  and  "religion"  a°T  °  P""^"'  ^^P^cts  of  the 

"anoffs,  and  in  that^f  the  hT'  '"n"'°  ''"'"'"'"  "«  K- 
f-tates  free  from  the  pangs  of  eon,,  ""'"""'■  '''"  "-o  United 
."J*"*;  and,  in  exeludingllT"™"^"  '"  ""^  "'"«''■•  of  the  In- 
l^hing  themselves  in  Zen  an  t  'T  "'"  *^'"'«'^<''  f™m  tab- 
"omparably  m„re  rigor  in  ™I  7T'  '""'  ">''y  not  used  in 
^•ation  of  the  country!  than  thBoe       ''""  ">"  ^'"-omieal  si? 

-*»n-she,w.hoisttt-tiS--i"i 


ovided  it  does  not 
IS,  1  say,  because, 
ization  within  its 
■•eigners,  in  whose 
mediately  detect- 
»ee.   ^In  fact,  the 
'nd  their  activity 
dustry  and  com- 
>  are  inspired  as 
aversion  to  what 
d  what  they  are 
e  is  one  duty  to 
to  any  other,  it 
»  prefer  its  own 
ect  in  view,  the 
complaints  of 
a  much  greater 
ns  in  devising 
'i  law  allowing 

jpreme  law  of 

I  of  downright 
eing  the  case 
'ks  of  making 
'n  only  do  in 
see  the  beam 

in  this  con- 
leed  I  quote 
'Pects  of  the 

of  the  Bo- 

the  United 
r  of  the  In- 
fi'om  estab- 
lot  used  in- 
lomical  sit- 
Ities  in  the 
very  exist- 
riticism  in 
a  her  own 


A  VINDICATION  OF  THE  BOERS. 

people  are  concernec!,  but  who  does  not  scruple  to  practice  tlie  most 
despotic  principles,  when  it  suits  her  purpose,  in  dealing  with 
conquered  and  alien  races;  she,  who,  to  quote  a  curious  instance 
of  inconsistency  on  her  part,  thunders  against  the  intolerable 
abuse  of  the  quarantine  system  in  other  countries,  and  yet  ap- 
plies the  same  system  herself  in  Malta? 

If  the  Transvaal  State  is  against  the  development  of  com- 
merce and  industry  on  principle,  it  is  within  its  rights  to  be  so, 
as  much  as  the  United  States  in  adopting  the  McKinley  and 
Dingley  tariffs.  It  is  a  matter  of  opinion,  moral  or  social  in 
the  Transvaal,  economic  in  the  United  States.  If  the  English 
were  more  logical  and  more  careful  to  avoid  the  reputation  of  be- 
ing over-bearing  with  the  weak,  they  would  no  more  think  of 
calling  the  Transvaal  to  account  for  its  economic  policy,  than 
they  would  of  challenging  the  United  States  for  theirs.  What 
Mr.  Brooks  calls  the  prostitution  of  the  law  courts  to  the  whims 
of  the  legislature,  does  not  apply  to  the  ordinary  dealings  of  jus- 
tice in  the  Transvaal,  but  to  the  political  situation,  which,  as  we 
have  explained,  must  be  governed  by  the  principle  of  the  safety 
of  the  State.  Finally,  if  the  police  and  sanitary  arrangements  are 
not  better,  Mr.  Brooks  himself  offers  us  the  best  possible  explana- 
tion: it  is  because  the  Boers,  in  order  to  defend  their  ^ihreatened 
independence,  are  obliged  to  spend  nearly  all  their  money  on  for- 
tifications and  the  secret  service. 

Because  they  cannot  obtain  redress,  through  the  Boers,  for  their 
imaginary  grievances,  the  English  claim  a  share  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Transvaal,  insisting  that  they  have  a  right  to  be 
represented  in  the  Raad;  and,  being  denied  this  privilege,  they 
make  it  their  principal  grievance.  On  what  is  this  claim  found- 
ed? Certainly  not  on  the  doctrine  or  practice  of  other  States.  I 
defy  anybody  to  prove  that  any  State  or,  for  that  matter,  any 
tlieory  of  international  law,  considers  it  an  "obligation"  for  gov- 
ernments to  enfranchise  aliens,  however  great  their  services  to 
the  country  in  which  they  reside,  however  great  their  contribu- 
tions to  its  exchequer,  however  marked  their  superiority  over  the 
natives.  Representation,  where  it  exists,  is  a  consequence  of 
citizenship.  "Well,  then,  we  have  a  right  to  Transvaal  citizen- 
ship," say  tiiC  English.  Again,  why?  Some  States  show  a  tendency 
to  favor  the  naturalization  of  foreigners,  especially  the  American 
republics;  others,  like  Russia,  are  opposed  to  it;  and  some,  like 


BRJTATN  AND  THE  BOERS 

naturalization  provide,  ti.o  Ilot  t!  ttar  ^ith  " '"  "'' 
to  ultimatelj-  uso  his  own  discretion  ,,,^  "'."'  "'»  P^ver 
tries  uhioh  are  most  dlunn  If  ^  '  '™  '"  *'""«  «"»"'- 
p.actico  of  ado  rtS;  l,,t  ■;  ^  'rr  '»  naturalization,  tl>e 
"..  obligation,  iral  "ratter  but  fr  ^^r""  "'  "='"""'8  ^""^ 
own  convenienco  and  Lt  5  and  *''?»->»«''="'"»■'  of  their 
dilions     Nav  i„  7^:  ""f""'' """l  "  '»  subject  to  their  own  con- 

State  I  tlCZ;'^,tT:T'7'  '"r  ""^'"'^  "'  *'^^ 
the  individual  nothing  th.t  ,1,     ,  !  '  ""'  ""'  "f'"'""  »' 

Wa  will,  as  is  1^0=^  in  the  S  ]\"T  °"™  '""'^"'^'<'  "S'^'^t 
the  que  tion  is  one  that  it  'A'"'"™"'''''"''"™-  I"  '»<='- 
righte  of  sov  re™ntv  tVy  >  "f  '°  ™'^''  '"'  ^^'''"  -^t"  'ho 
Ttreisn  trc™;Mnfth  T™  ''  "."^^  'f*"'"'''  ^^  "^"'y- 
the  Boers  are  pe  Ltlv  Z  *  *°^.    ""         ^'"^'  *''''''°'^' 

says  Mr,  BrX  tte  L  f\    "T"  *"  '^''«"^''  '^'=""">^-   B-' 
anything  that  isl  «'l^       "'''    ™  '°  °"'  '"  ""  '^'"'''™°'-    " 

hj  a  minority  is  an  a^aly    but  1^°"'^*™'"  '''  8°™™=' 
public  and  internationTr,        t     ,  ^  ^  "'^'°'"«'  ^""""on  ^ 

-en  govern  3otooo  ooo  „  ^^^^^^^^^^^    L  lV"''"',°'  '=°«""'- 
the  governing  minorifv  i^T     .,'      .        Transvaal,  the  case  of 

thorL  docs\o  pr"cld  om^tv™  ''  '^'  '^"'  ""'  '"^'^  »- 
a  vitiating  elemonUn  the  nn  v  ""?™  "''  '"■"J-'^st,  which  is 

a  prior  esfabl irenuft  ,e  nr,°  ""'  '"  '"*"' ''"'  ''°"' 
jority  in  the  defence  o£  a  Jh,  ',  ,"  '■'"'™'*''  "«"">='  ""  '^^• 
coived  the  sanctit'of  ."fte^lLra.tr  °'  '"■'^='  ''"'''  '^^  - 

righteoufness°  o'f  «  e  „„arrelT'>"  Tf  ""*  P™"''  °'  «-  ""- 
Transvaal,  and  of  the  list  fill     *         '"^  ''''''''^'^  "P  "'"•  *« 
toriousnei  of  the  atti  tad  tf  tT'^n  ""^  "T'  ""=  P"^""''^  ™ri- 
tion  can  do  othe^i  e  tht  ,T         T''  '""'»  »°  «»"«'»  "a- 
ness  with  whi  h  Z  *  If  T  ^Z  '^'  P'"*  "-"^  »""''>«"■ 
explain  here  St  I !,?„?         i""  ."""^  sovereignty.    Might  I 
Mr  Brooks'  plete  to  r  „^^?""  7."'°'"''''  "'^  ''"*'=»'  ™'»-^  »* 
order  to  street  n  m/::;'rt  t'  "r""^  "'  *^  T™"--'-  '■> 
are  quite  as  th*e  ^nZl!;Xl'l:XT^'^T'f  """«' 
not  mate  out  a  ease  for  themselves" As'-^at^'^trft; 


'V' 


>    V!  .... 


now  undergo- 
*  of  the  law  on 
th  the  power 
in  those  coun- 
ralization,  the 
resulting  from 
ration  of  their 
heir  own  con- 
)pinion  of  the 
le  opinion  of 
alized  against 
lies.   In  fact, 
tent  with  the 
3d  by  trejaty. 
id;  therefore, 
iiands.    But, 
ransvaal.    If 
to  naturalize 
be  governed 
situation  in 
of  Engllsh- 
,  the  ease  of 
lat  their  au- 
it,  which  is 
a,  but  from 
nst  the  ma- 
lich  has  re- 
de whether 
of  the  un- 
5  with  the 
iitive  meri- 
nerous  na- 
stubborn- 
Might  I 
t  colors  of 
msvaal,  in 
1  if  things 
nders  can- 
fact,  the 


A  VINDICATION  OF  TUB  BOERS, 

Boers,  '  hether  they  will  it  or  not,  are  submitting  much  more 
than  tht  English  will  admit  to  the  intrinsic  force  of  modern  ideas. 
Thoy  are  certainly  not  in  a  hurry  to  make  a  complete  surrender 
to  the  tide  of  innovation  and  reform;  but  to  depict  them  as 
radically  refractory  to  the  notions  of  progress  is  an  injustice. 
The  political  situation  is  more  to  blame  for  their  backwardness 
than  their  old-fashioned  conservatism;  and,  as  to  the  bitter  com- 
plaints concerning  the  want  of  proper  administration  in  the  Trans- 
vaal, these  might  be  proved  on  closer  inspection  to  be  con- 
siderably exaggerated,  and  to  be  more  the  result  of  the  animosity 
of  the  English  against  the  Boers,  than  of  a  real  sense  of  annoy- 
ance and  discomfort  on  the  part  of  men  who  belong  to  a  class  ac- 
customed to  rough  it,  and  who,  moreover,  knew  exactly  what  they 
had  to  expect  in  crossing  the  borders  of  the  Republic. 

I  think  it  is  also  necessary  to  recall  to  mind  that,  notwith- 
etanding  the  depth  of  his  convictions  in  his  differences  with  the 
English,  and  however  great  his  stubbornness  at  heart  in  thwart- 
ing their  purposes,  Mr.  Kriiger  has  not  pressed  his  case  with  all 
the  force  it  derives  from  absolute  legitimacy  and  from  the  im- 
portance of  the  points  at  issue;  and  that  he  has  not  only  avoided 
provocative  forms,  but  has  actually  made  concessions,  the  value 
of  which  may  be  a  matter  of  discussion,  but  whose  existence  is 
nevertheless  proof  of  his  desire  to  spare  the  pride  of  a  groat 
nation. 

I  will  now  revert  to  the  important  question  of  the  franchise — 
the  one  that  dominates  the  whole  situation  in  the  Transvaal  and 
has  absorbed  in  itself  all  the  other  grievances  of  the  Uitlanders. 
Following  Mr.  Brooks,  I  have  once  or  twice  taken  up  a  stand 
on  his  own  ground,  that  of  the  harmfulness  or  innocuousness  of 
enfranchisement  granted  to  the  English.  Although  I  have  been 
hitherto  more  concerned  with  the  legal  aspects  of  this  question,  a 
practical  view  of  it  forced  itself  upon  my  attention  at  an  early 
stage  of  this  discussion,  and  I  contended  against  Mr.  Brooks,  apart 
from  all  considerations  of  legitimacy  or  non-legitimacy,  that,  as 
a  matter  of  opportuneness,  the  franchise  should  not  be  granted  by 
the  Boers  to  the  English,  because  it  would  lead  to  the  loss  of 
their  independence.    I  will  now  prove  it. 

When  representation  is  claimed,  it  is  done  with  the  idea  that 
it  will  be  efficacious;  else  why  claim  it?  When  the  English  de- 
mand representation  in  the  Boer  Parliament,  they  do  so  with  the 


Ill  ffflf 


.  BlilTAIX  AXD  THE  BOEns 

t»nnot  dope  to  ,Io  «,  „itil    ,"'""■'"'"»■'■•  view,.     Thcv 
'"'T  ai,„  at  o.,n,„„C,-  ;':,'-■;«  «  ™ioHty.     T„o„fo,^ 
dos,den,t„„,  Ua.  boon  fi,I(in„    (W^ J"  ""^  """'';  ""d-  o«oo  this 
«ve  l««e,i  into  tho  handf  V'^f  rTu' "'"'""''"'^y  "i' 
m|>.;to  of  flosh  ami  l,|o„,l  ,,iM  ,m      '      '°""'S  ">«  "■■.linary 
»■'  agJisl,  <lopomI™cj_„„t„"   '    "'""''™  ""^  J^°"  Stale  into 
o-trar,  or  ovo„  t,,o  .«ki-™     tt    ".t"!/?,^  "^'""-"^  '»  tj 
My  contest  tl.is  vie,,?  J,  it  „.  „f,  °''"'  "'  ''"'-■«i«>ce.    Can  any. 
«   ling,^,,„,™,  i„„^,^^     "  ;;'     °-;"vab  e  that  a  large  bo/y 

"'"  """"""o  '0  submit  to  ti,e  lee  f    /"'"  '"  "»  T-'-nsvaal, 
cnment  representing  a  helnZ  n  ,       .  °'  "  '''•^*'<''''"  ""d  gov 

tte^  consider  an  inferior  rae'r  In  m'af'.r"''  '^'""S-S  to  ,fh  t 
t. (landers  „,ay  ,„„„„  ,vith  „„e    "7    '.'"^  *''  '"fra-ohised 
«ne  man  to  Anglieise  the  State     I  ",.  "'  '""  "'"3'  -^i"  act  like 
«;Me  in  a  State  founded  on  t ,;  ,  ?       !  """"■"'^  technically  pes- 
^'"  -.  do  not  eireumstanees  p^n    t"'.? '  "''°™'  ■»»«tutio„s     Be. 
«"cme.  „u  the  part  of  EnZd   ,      "  '"'"""'  »'  "  deep-Wd 
«  fot  been  made  evident  that  Tn         '"'"'■'  "'^  Transvaal?  ni, 
;-.  England  is  forging  t,t  , in"  CTr"  "'  '  ''^'"^'^  -'4 
f>;om  the  Sorth  to  the  South" f  .1°  ^"""T"  "«"  '*•"'  "lend 
«dl  be  the  next  of  these  linfe    Tht «    ' ,?"  """  ""^  Trans,-aal 
StapMcal,  ethnical  and  politali;"    ""p""  '^  ""  °tetacle-ge„. 
«  d:d  no.  stand  se'ioeslv  in  tb  *''"''  "l"'Osion.    Even  if 

7'd  >-ct  be  imrossiblertbrEn^^Sb'f  "^  *^-"-  -  "«" 
01  oceupyi„g_  for  eonvenienee'  sal/        '°  '''^''''  "'"  temptation 
'■'  "t  the  same  time  deprived  „»'  !  °°'"'"'^  *''»''  l-eing  ,veal 
^aored  as  Greece  is  for  example  L ^  "'"  """  "'*'""  ™^"  " 
"de  ,t  „.ith  friends  in  thihnuvZ       7°'  "'  "'"  ""rfd,  and  pro 
taes  themselves.    There  s  ,vl  *  /  '""^'  "™  """"ng  the  I'M  s 
toting  term  I  „,i,  J  ^a  en  1  „/^'  "''""  "'  "  ''"""  »d  »,'„    " 

*'  ^  .^-ded  and  delieatelyfinrhed  T  T"''""''  "^  ''o-- 
"Pledly  nation.'  tracts  of  .errito^  ^  /u™"""^'  ""d  "ninter. 
better  reason,  is  marked  out  f„r  ^n'o  ^  . "'  '^""'™'"'  «  ^of  "o 
»'  the  English  Imperialist  i'tt.l'^'^?^""''  '"=™»<^.  «  the  eves 


ying  the  logisla- 
ir  views.  They 
■y-      Therefore, 

and,  once  this 
l>e  country  will 
S  the  ordinary 
^oer  State  into 
urances  to  tiie 
'CG.     Can  any. 
t  a  large  body 
the  Transvaal, 
3ent  and  gov- 
•gJn^'  to  what 

enfranchised 

will  act  like 
'hnically  pos- 
tutions?  Be- 
f  a  deep-laid 
nsvaal?  Has 
^tic  concep- 

will  extend 
e  Transvaal 
stacle — ^geo- 
n-    Even  if 
s  us  that  it 
ton-iptation 
eing  weak, 
t  render  it 
i,  and  pro- 
tJie  Philis- 
d  loss  llat- 
-tic  in  tile 
s  of  beau- 
f  uninter- 

if  for  no 
I  tJie  eyes 
absurdity 
ions,  and 
its  color 
ish  pink. 


A  VINDICATION  OF  THE  BOERS. 

I  shall  make  myself  bettor  understood  l)y  recalling  the  instinct  of 
the  individual  landed  proprietor,  who  is  not  happy  until  his  es- 
tate shows  continuity  and  unindented  lines, 

Mr.  Brooks  ailirnis  that  the  English  have  no  designs  on  the 
Transvaal;  yet,  at  the  same  time,  with  a  contradiction  which  does 
not  in  the  least  disturb  his  equanimity,  ho  endorses  the  appre- 
hensions of  the  Boers.  What  In.  says  is  too  precious  not  to  be 
literally  repeated: 

"The  Prpsldenfa  strength  lies  In  the  ;ptltude  of  his  appeals  to 
the  spirit  and  prejudices  of  the  Old  Boer  Party.  These  stalwart  oon- 
dervatives  concentrated  all  their  hatred  and  contempt  for  foreign 
ways  and  customs  upon  the  British,  the  only  enemltc  they  have 
known.  It  was  to  esci^pe  from  British  rule  that  their  forefathers 
struck  out  from  the  Cape,  across  the  wilderness  and  founded  a  Re- 
public of  their  own.  The  incidents  of  the  Great  Trek  in  the  thirties, 
of  which  the  President  is  the  last  sur/lvor,  are  stlP  held  in  patriotic 
memory.  The  British  annexed  the  new-born  State  under  pledges,  de- 
layed so  long,  that  the  Boers  took  up  arms  to  enforce  them  and  won 
back  their  Independence.  The  British  stopped  the  expansion  of  the 
Transvaal  on  the  north  by  occupying  Ma'abeieland  and  Mashonaland 
and  on  the  west  by  pouncing  upon  Bechuanaland.  It  was  with  British 
gold  and  under  the  command  of  British  officers  that  the  raid  of  1S93 
was  planned  and  carried  out.  Small  wonder  that  the  Boers  saw,  and 
still  see,  in  the  demand  for  the  franchise,  only  another  British  plot 
to  rob  them  of  their  independence.  The  Uitlanders  had  come  into  the 
country  uninvited  suid  undesired,  seeking  only  gold  and  with  full 
warning  that  It  was  a  Boer  Republic  they  were  entering.  By  what 
right  could  these  strangers  of  yesterday  claim  to  be  on  a  level  with 
the  old  burghers  who  had  fought  and  bled  to  keep  the  State  free 
from  alien  control,  and  what  Boer  InokiiKj  to  the  pant  expcrlviiccH  of  hi."  pco- 
pic  loKh  the  BnfjUsh  could  quarnntce  that  their  capture  of  the  franchise 
would  not  lead  to  their  capture  of  the  entire  State,  thai  the  Repuhlic 
would  not  become  an  EnyWih  Repuhlic  with  a:i  English  President  and 
its  original  founders  a  despised  and  opprfscd  minority/" 

Following  up  this  amusing  piece  of  treachery,  of  which  he  is 
unwittingly  guilty  toward  himself  and  his  thesis,  Mr.  Brooks 
eoes  on  to  say  that  it  would  have  "been  a  high  achievement  of 
<Iij)lomacy  if  Sir  Alfred  Milner  could  have  persuaded  the  Presi- 
dent, and  through  him  the  Boers,  that  their  fears,  if  not  baseless, 
are  very  unlikelv  to  be  realized."  I  need  not  point  to  the  de- 
licious effect  of  the  words,  "if  not  baseless,  are  very  unlikely  to  be 
realized."  But  the  crowning  point  of  Mr.  Brooks'  originality  is 
to  be  found  in  the  following  passage: 

"The  people  of  England  have  no  hostility  toward  the  Boers  and 
no  ambition  to  annex  their  country.  They  have  on  the  contrary  an 
uncomfortable  feeling  that,  in  their  clashes  with  the  Transvaal  the 
British  reputation  for  fair-dealing,  which  so  long  as  It  is  deserved  ia 


BRITAIN  AXD  THE  DOEIiS. 


;n  hlH  .truK^lo.  even  X  th  ;  ha^e  to   I'^'r  ""r  '^""  ^^■'«^'  '"'"  -«'' 
inK  It  on.    They  cannot  fl..d  muorm     .^     .T"  ^"'  '"^"'^"^«  "'  ^^rry. 

Its  appl,calio„  by  the.  U.gli^l,  t„  Ji^.  Z.kl        '  """  ^  '" 

ti.a.  ;ri:,'„v;n,f;:"  -."» '» »-  >-*  .!„,„,  ..e .,, 

met  w  th  an  obstimifo  ♦,«»  ^        fe"t^\a»ces  ot  the  Litlanders  are 

Of  perishing  ti',r/a  Tv;:";;: ^i  'T"";;'  ™-  ;"^  ™^ 

threatoncl  will,  war.  "  ""'"  ""''''=''  "  « 

whether  they  vLw  or  in!    ,  1  ''"°""""-    "'"^  ""J-  "'  "'«  »">", 
in  case  it  s  laTE„l„T  ,  ".  °™-'' '!"  ''°™  ""  ''"'>'"»'^=  '»■■ 
l.»r  upon  them  thSf  1?™"",';''  '°  ''""8  ""  ''"  ""S>'t  to 
capacity  willTot  saveXri-      "V  '  "'"'  ''™'''"-^  '">'•  """"iK 

can  h„;  to  a°hi::°n»  a  Ztit't:^  '"'™""°"-  ^'^ 
gaining  .„„«  battles,  but  th  'wlA.^J  hcro.e  re»,.tance,  by 
ti.em,  as  they  must  bs  nv„L  V  ,  '  ""  ""'crial  avail  to 
the  eonMen  ean  treasTd  'nTr  ""  '''"'™  '"  "'°  '"''■  ^""■ 
triumphs  in  Egyp  ^1^^  ^^  '""'''°'"'  ''"'^•''''  <">"•  ''cr 
can  p^^blcm  ift'r^o  .„  w  1  "  7'^  '°  "'""  '"^  ^''°""'  ^f"" 
choiee  of  the  Boers,  the  end  simsi  i7/°"-  ™'""'"  ""^ 
of  us  will  probably  live  toJ,Z       ,  "iT'-oaching.    Most 

the  tragedy  now  enVrnJntl  I  aTr '",'''"  T  ""  '"''  »''  »' 
of  the  Transvaal.  Europe  will  '„],  °""'™*'  "'"  ^Pfc^sion 
<-™t  Britain,  atthezemtl  0    !r  '  i"'  ""'  ''°'  ^"'■J  '""i 

Will  continue  to  shoot  n  1  e  fci,  IT'V"^  ^'"^  '""'  P"'^!'""^-. 
and  uncontrollable  orb    u„i    If       ""fnftional  politics,  a  fiery 

from  the  East,  borne  on  1  lit  T/ttl"  ''"  '""'  "=  "™8 
and  which  is  slowly  but  stendik  1  ^"'ocracy  and  Orthodoxy, 
tl.e  heavens  will  rLg  Ld  ,  '  "^IH,"/'"  '"""  "°"'-  Then 
we  shall  witness  the  Ltlor  flebn  "'./""'""'"'■^  clash,  and 
-l.at  there  is  no  end  toll"  t  :f^Sr".';°"f  i  """^ 
only  grow  and  spread  her  Empire  and  tl.l  '■      '  ''"= ''™ 

»he  will  achieve  durability  in  fe  midst  if  '  '""'""'  '"  ^°""'' 
•T  ^,„  ^  miast  of  supreme  nowpr 


*;_."^* 


ilntalned.  They 
I  wish  him  well 
L'thods  of  carry- 
I  tlefenalble,  ex- 
tlac,  ihcy  would 

cope  with  my 
it  would  be  iu 

time,  he  says 
Jitlanders  are 
runs  iJie  risk 
■  words,  it  is 

isvaal,  of  sui- 
OT  the  other, 
ioomed;  for, 
lier  might  to 
and  military 
;tion.     They 
Jsistance,  by 
fial  avail  to 
end.     With 
ed  from  her 
South  Afri- 
hatever  the 
ling.     Most 
'  last  act  of 
suppression 
t  stir;  and 
prosperity, 
tics,  a  fiery 
>t  is  rising 
Orthodoxy, 
til.     Then 
clash,  and 
?lish  creed 
at  she  can 
to  Rome, 
)ower. 


A  TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN 

QUESTION. 

BY  DR. F.  V. ENGELENBURG, EDITOR  OF  THE  " PRETORIA  VOLKSSTEM.' 


Jlty  to 


ao« 


South  Africa  is  poor,  extremely  poor,  in  spite  of  its  gold 
outi)ut  of  nearly  two  millions  per  month  and  its  diamond  export 
of  five  millions  per  year. 

The  disabilities  from  which  South  Africa  suffers  are  manifold. 
The  climate  is  glorious,  the  soil  fertile,  but  the  rainfall  is  uncer- 
tain and  irregular.  There  are  large  tracts  where  rain  falls  only 
once  every  four  or  five  years;  and,  where  circumstances  are  more 
ftivorable,  there  are  no  natural  reservoirs  in  which  water  can  be 
stored,  or  certainly  none  to  any  appreciable  extent.  The  rivers, 
dry  in  summer-time,  become  foaming  torrents  in  the  rainy  season, 
and  pour  the  whole  of  their  waters  into  tlie  sea.  If  tlie  Witwa- 
tcrsrand  were  not  situati.l  alongside  an  extensive  formation  of 
dolomite,  which  absorbs  rainwater,  and  stores  it  up  like  a  sponge, 
it  would  have  been  utterly  impossible  for  its  unrivalled  gold  in- 
dustry to  attain  its  present  condition,  and  the  Boers  to-day  would 
be  enjoying  the  rest  and  peace  which  they  have  ever  longed  for 
and  deserve. 

In  addition  to  the  dearth  of  water,  South  Africa  has  had  to 
contend  with  many  other  drawbacks,  resulting  from  its  clumsy 
topographical  configuration.  On  its  northern  confines,  it  is  de- 
fenceless against  the  ravages  of  nature,  which  sweep  like  a  whirl- 
wind through  the  whole  of  the  southern  continent.  From  olden 
days,  Africa  has  been  known  as  the  land  of  plagues  and  calami- 
ties. Einderpest  sweeps  down  from  the  north,  and  its  latest  at- 
tack, in  189H,  brought  ruin  to  both  white  and  black;  from  the 
rorth,  too,  come  the  locusts  and  other  noxious  insects;  from  the 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS. 
north,  come  the  hot  tropical  winds,  bringing  drought  and  ward- 
ing off  the  beneficent  rain;  and  from  the  north  have  many  clouds 
arisen  casting  sinister  shadows  on  this  part  of  the  continent. 
The  clumsy  configuration   of  South  Africa,  to  which  I  have 
alluded,    is    the    natural    result    of    its    plateau-form,    with 
its  abrupt  descent  to  the  Indian   Ocean.     The  region  is  de- 
void of  navigable  rivers;  the  seacoast  is  an  endless,  monotonous 
line  without  fiords,  without  estuaries,  without  inlets  of  any  kind, 
and  therefore  without  harbors.    The  west  coast  is,  moreover,  sepa- 
rated from  the  interior  by  wastes  of  sand  dunes;  the  east  coast 
is  unhealthy  and  haunted  by  the  tsetse  fly.     No  wonder  that 
Phoenicians,   Arabs  and  Portuguese,  after  their  first  experience 
of  the  country,  had  little  inclination  to  colonize  it,  and  to  make  it 
tl.ieir  home.    The  only  white  men  who  manage  to  adapt  them- 
selves to  the  exigencies  of  the  southern  continent  and  build  up  a 
stalwart  nation   are  the  Afrikanders.     They  are  destined  to  oc- 
cupy the  land  for  exer,  and  to  thrive  here  when  diamonds  and 
gold  shall  be  things  of  the  past. 

And  the  blacks?    I  have  already  said  that  South  Africa  is 
poor,  and  has  never  possessed  any  large  population,  for  the  rea- 
son that  it  could  not  support  it.    The  Bushmen  live  like  beasts 
of  prey  in  the  wilderness;  the  Hottentots  were  subject  to  con- 
tinuous decinution  through  sickness  and  famine.    When  the  war- 
like Zulus,  several  centuries  ago,  came  down  along  the  east  coast, 
tney  drove  before  them  the  few  handfuls  of  human  beings  they 
encountered,  like  leaves  before  the  wind,  became  masters  of  the 
best  sub-tropical  portion  of  tlie  eastern  provinces,  murdering  and 
slaying  like  swarthy  Huns,  and  pressed  down  to  Natal.    But  al- 
tliough  their  social  organization  was  higher  than  that  of  the 
nomadic  tribes  which   they  superseded,  the  poverty  of  South 
Africa  constrained  them  to  continue  M'ar  amongst  themselves. 
As  soon  as  one  Zulu  tribe  commenced  to  thrive  and  increased  in 
weaii^h  of  cattle,  it  became  necessary  to  obtain  more  land— in 
other  words,  to  wage  war  against  its  neighbors;  for  South  Africa 
was  not  able  to  give  shelter  to  any  dense  population.    That  is 
M-hy  the  Zulus  could  only  manage  to  exist  either  by  internecine 
strife  or  by  occasional  emigration,  to  the  natural  detriment  of 
the  weaker  races.    Both  the  legendary  and  documentary  history 
of  South  Africa's  blacks  tends  to  prove  that,  when  sickness  had 
not  to  be  reckoned  with,  war  inevitably  became  the  means  of  re- 


TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  SOUTH  AFRICAN  QUESTION, 

ducing  the  population  of  this  region  to  its  normal  sustaining 
ciij)acity.  In  recent  years,  the  supremacy  of  the  whites  has  ma- 
terially affected  internecine  war  as  a  limiting  factor  'vith  regard 
to  native  population;  but  its  place  has  been  filled  in  some  measure 
by  disease  and  drink.  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  black 
population  is  greatly  on  the  increase,  now  that  thev  are  not  per- 
mitted to  indulge  in  war  amongst  themselves.  But,  at  the  same 
time,  the  importation  of  foreign  "mealies"  (maize) — the  staple 
food  of  the  Kaffirs — ^has  also  steadily  increased;  in  1897,  the 
South  African  Republic  imported  nearly  36  million  pounds  of 
mealies;  in  1898,  the  total  importation  had  risen  to  over  44^  mil- 
lions. There  will  come  a  day  when  the  natives  will  cease  to  get 
V/'ork  at  the  mines,  when  the  mines  will  be  exhausted.  Then  the 
importation  of  South  American  cereals  will  fall  off,  and  South 
Africa  will  be  expected  to  provide  food  for  its  own  native  popula- 
tion. Will  it  be  equal  to  the  task?  The  history  of  the  past  sup- 
plies an  eloquent  answer. 

But  with  the  industrious  European  colonist,  schooled  and  dis- 
ciplined by  labor,  can  South  Africa  not  produce  what  is  neces- 
sary for  his  support?  The  white  population  of  this  part  of  the 
world  amounts,  in  round  numbers,  to  two  millions — a  very  gen- 
erous estimate— inhabiting  a  vast  extent  of  coimtry,  larger  than 
France,  Germany  and  Italy  together.  This  population  is  de- 
l»endent  on  the  outside  world,  not  merely  for  the  products  of 
technical  industry,  but  also  for  those  of  agriculture.  We  import 
])otatoes  and  frozen  meat  from  Australia,  wood  from  Canada  and 
Xorway,  eggs  and  butter  from  Europe,  meal  and  mules  froni 
America.  The  sugar  and  tea  grown  in  Xatal  cannot  compete  with 
the  products  of  Mauritius  and  Ceylon,  without  the  aid  of  protec- 
tion. In  order  that  these  two  millions  of  whites  may  be  commer- 
cially accessible  to  the  outside  world,  and  that  this  huge  import 
trade  may  be  practicable,  more  than  fifty  million  pounds  sterling 
have  been  devoted  to  railway  construction.  Every  week  sees  nu- 
merous steamers  arriving  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  laden  witll 
every  conceivable  kind  of  goods,  to  supply  the  limited  South 
African  community  with  many  necessaries  of  life.  Should  this 
means  of  supply  ever  be  cut  off,  a  large  portion  of  our  white  and 
other  population  would  simply  stance,  or  at  any  rate  be  deprived 
of  the  comforts  of  life.  Only  the  Boers,  who  eke  out  a  fruga\  ex- 
istence on  their  secluded  farms,  and  have  not  yet  become  depend- 


BRITAIN  AND  TEE  BOERS. 
ent  on  frozen  meat,  European  butter,  American  meal  and  Aus- 
tralian potatoes— only  the  Boers,  who,  with  rare  endurance,  the 
heritage  of  their  hardy  race,  boldly  face  years  of  drought,  rinder- 
pest, locusts  and  fever,  could  survive  such  a  collapse  of  the  eco- 
nomic machinery  of  a  country  so  severely  dealt  with  by  nature. 
The  remaining  Europeans  would  gradually  disappear,  just  as  the 
Plioenicians  and  the  Arabs  disappeared  in  the  days  long  past.    As 
long  a.s  the  gold  mines  and  the  diamond  mines  can  be  worked  and 
made  to  pay,  so  long  will  the  abnormal  economy  of  South  Africa 
preserve  its  balance;  but  as  soon  as  South  Africa  has  swallowed 
up  its  capital  to  the  very  last  bit  of  gold,  the  Uitlander  will  have 
to  seek  for  fresh  fields  for  the  exercise  of  his  nervous  energy,  and 
the  Afrikander  will  be  abandoned  to  his  struggle  with  the  inim- 
ical elements,  as  has  ever  been  his  lot  in  the  past.    By  the  sweat 
of  his  brow  he  will  have  to  lead  his  carefully  stored-up  water  to 
the  fields  continuously  threatened  by  locusts,  he  will  have  to 
shield  his  flocks  from  plague  and  theft,  he  will  have  to  preserve 
continual  watch  against  the  inroads  of  the  ever-increasing  blacks. 
Ihe  Boer— that  is  the  agriculturist— is  destined  to  be  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  of  South  Africa's  white  culture;  he  alone,  in  this 
quarter  of  the  globe,  can  save  civilization  from  the  ultimate  gulf 
of  bankruptcy.    To  say  that  South  Africa  is  a  rich  land,  or  to 
paint  its  future  in  glowing  colors  and  to  dilate  on  the  brilliant 
prospects  that  it  offers  to  an  unlimited  white  population,  is  only 
possible  to  an  extraordinarily  superficial  observer,  to  an  un- 
scrupulous company-promoter,  or  to  an  over-zealous  emigration 
«gent,  whose  salary  is  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  his  victims. 
The  first  European  power  which  acquired  a  firm  footing  in  the 
East  Indies,  the  Portuguese,  simply  ignored  South  Africa.    The 
Portuguese  were  succeeded  by  the  Hollanders,  who,  not  until 
after  much  hesitation  and  two  futile  attempts  to  conquer  Mozam- 
bique, decided  to  take  possession  of  Africa's  southern  extremity. 
And  the  English,  in  common  with  the  Hollanders,  never  desired 
aught  but  the  few  harbors  which  South  Africa  possesses;  the  in- 
terior had  no  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  European  maritime  powers, 
which  only  looked  to  the  opulent  East.    A  clear  illustration  of 
this  IS  furnished  by  the  fact  that,  although  possessing  Walvisch 
Bay,  England  quietly  acquiesced  in  Germany's  protectorate  over 
the  hinterland;  and  another  instance  is  to  be  found  in  the  anxiety 
which  England  has  recently  shown  to  get  hold  of  Delagoa  Bay 


TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  SOUTH  AFRICAN  QUESTION. 

and  Beira.  The  possession  of  these  harbors  would  give  to  the 
British  Empire  control  of  the  sea-way  to  the  East,  and  to  the 
English  merchants  such  trade  with  the  interior  of  South  Africa 
as  circumstances  might  permit.  Neither  the  Dutch  East  India 
Company  nor  the  British  rulers  bestirred  themselves  in  any  way, 
in  connection  with  he  steady  expansion  of  the  white  colonists 
in  the  hinterland.  And  this  interior  colonization  had  barely 
acquired  any  importance  before  there  arose  both  petty  and  ma- 
terial disturbances  with  the  authority  representing  the  purely 
European  factor.  This  was  not  at  all  difficult  to  understand. 
The  community  at  the  Cape  was  composed  of  administrators  and 
merchants  who  amassed  considerable  fortunes  by  means  of  the 
uninterrupted  trade  between  Europe  and  India;  the  luxury 
which  reigned  at  the  foot  of  Table  Mountain  was  proverbial;  all 
the  comforts  of -European  civilization  could  he  enjoyed  in  sunny 
South  Africa,  untroubled  by  the  shadows  of  the  Old  World.  In 
vivid  contrast  to  this  luxurious  life  of  ease,  the  burdens  of  the 
inland  colonists  were,  indeed,  grievous  to  be  borne;  rough,  hardy 
pioneers  of  the  wilderness,  their  life  was  one  prolonged  struggle 
with  poverty,  with  ravaging  beasts  of  prey,  and  with  stealthy 
Bushmen  and  Hottentots.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that,  little  by 
little,  a  social  gulf  was  created,  that  a  marked  dissimilarity  of 
character  was  gradually  developed  between  the  up-to-date  Cape 
patricians,  treading  the  primrose  paths  of  luxury,  and  the  no- 
madic shepherds  of  the  veldt,  independent  of  aught  save  their 
fowling-pieces,  and  undisputed  lords  of  the  limitless  plateau  be- 
hind the  mountains  fringhig  the  coast.  No  wonder,  therefore, 
that  the  mere  handful  of  conquerors  of  the  Great  Karroo  had  little 
love  for  the  arbitrary  rule  of  a  Proconsul  in  Cape  Town  Castle, 
on  behalf  of  an  autlioritv  having  its  headquarters  in  Europe. 

Under  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  friction  often  arose 
between  the  two  white  elements  of  the  Colony,  and  when  the 
Cape  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  the  old  antagonism  continued  to  exist.  I  once 
heard  it  said  that  when  Napoleon  surrendered  to  the  British  m 
1815,  there  was  some  talk  of  assigning  to  him,  as  a  final  resting- 
place,  that  pretty  country  estate  of  the  early  Dutch  Governors, 
not  far  from  Cape  Town,  but  that  this  idea  had  to  be  given  up  on 
account  of  distrust  of  the  feelings  of  the  inland  colomsts,  there 
being  some  fear  that  South  Africa  might  see  a  repetition  of  the 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS. 

Elba  incident.  As  long  as  the  Imperial  authorities  left  the  inland 
colonists  to  themselves,  and  only  exercised  a  general  repressive 
jontrol,  the  relationship  between  the  two  white  communities  of 
South  Africa  remained  satisfactory,  but  as  soon  as  the  strings 
were  pulled  too  suddenly  from  Europe,  and  the  Cape  authorities 
had  to  carry  out  a  grasping,  despotic  policy,  the  two  elements  in- 
evitably came  to  loggerheads.  The  best  South  African  politicians 
—both  British  and  Boer— are  those  who  have  frankly  admitted 
that  the  political  key  to  South  Africa  lies  in  an  intelligent  insight 
irto  the  limit  which  should  be  allowed  to  Briton,  Boer  and 
Black.  In  other  words,  let  each  of  the  three  fulfil  the  mission 
which  nature  has  allotted  to  him,  and  then  this  much-vexed  con- 
tinent will  enjoy  the  rest  and  peace  of  which  it  so  urgently  stands 
ill  need. 

Is  it  necessary  to  give  a  resum6of  the  painful  episodes  which 
thronged  upon  one  another  in  South  Africa  in  the  nineteenth 
century  ?  Ilie  result  of  a  hundred  years  of  incompetency,  weak- 
ness, vacillation,  and  reckless  greed  culminates  to-day  in  the  aw- 
lul  probability  of  an  insensate  strife  between  two  hardy  vital 
races,  races  unique  by  reason  of  their  capacity  for  colonial  ex- 
pansion, races  of  similar  origin  and  religion,  races  whose  internal 
co-operation  could  have  made  this  country,  if  not  exceptionally 
prosperous,  at  least  a  particularly  happy  land,  so  that  the  dream 
of  one  of  its  most  gifted  children,  Thomas  Pringle,  might  have 
been  fulfilled  in  gladsome  measure: 

"South  Africa,  thy  future  lies 
Bright  'fore  my  vision  as  thy  skies." 

The  first  beneficent  breathing-space  which  was  granted  to 
South  Africa  by  the  fatal  British  policy,  was  when,  in  1852  and 
1854 — after  numberless  mistakes  had  been  committed  by  the  Im- 
perial authorities,  mistakes  which  no  historian  now  attempts  to 
deny— the  South  African  Republic  and  the  Free  State  were  re- 
spectively left  to  their  own  resources,  by  solemn  covenants  with 
the  British  Government— in  other  words,  when  the  formal  prin- 
ciple was  adopted  by  England  that  the  Briton  should  be  "baas" 
of  the  coast  and  the  Boer  of  the  hinterland.  The  circumstances 
under  which  this  took  place  had  in  the  meantime  become  very 
grievous:  the  Boer  States  never  had  a  fair  start;  the  British  mari- 
time colonies  levied  enormous  duties  on  goods  consigned  to  the 
ipterior,  and  squeezed  as  rmir-h  out  of  the  Afrikander  republics  as 


I 


ihe  inland 
repressive 
unities  of 
le  strings 
uthorities 
ments  in- 
)oliticians 
admitted 
at  insight 
Joer  and 
e  mission 
exed  con- 
tly  stands 

les  which 
ineteenth 
cy,  weak- 
a  the  aw- 
rdy  vital 
onial  ex- 
!  internal 
sptionally 
he  dream 
ght  have 


anted  to 
1852  and 
r  the  Im- 
cmpts  to 
were  re- 
ints  with 
nal  prin- 
)e  "baas" 
mstances 
jme  very 
ish  mari- 
id  to  the 
mblics  as 


TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  SOUTH  AFRICAN  QUESTION. 

they  possibly  could.  And  thus  whilst  the  British  merchants  at 
Cape  Town,  Port  P^lizabeth,  East  London  and  Durban  waxed  fat 
and  wealthy,  the  Boers  became  more  and  more  impoverished.  But 
they  were  sustained  in  their  struggle  against  poverty  by  the  hardy 
spirit  which  was  their  peculiar  heritage  from  their  forefathers.  And 
although  the  Free  State  and  the  Transvaal  languished  in  their  ma- 
terial development,  and  Natal  and  the  Cape  battened  upon  them, 
the  Boers  were  satisfied,  like  the  lean  dog  in  the  fable  who  did  not 
envy  the  lot  of  his  richer  brother,  because  the  latter  had  to  wear 
a  heavy  collar  of  gold. 

The  generous  policy  of  1853  and  1854  was  only  too  short- 
lived.   The  lucid  moments  of  the  Anglo-African  politicians  have 
been,  alas!  few  and  far  between.    First  came  the  ruthless  annexa- 
tion of  Basutoland  by  the  British  authorities,  just  at  the  moment 
when  the  Free  State  had  clipped  the  wings  of  the  Basutos  and 
rendered  further  resistance  futile.    Then  came  the  unrighteous 
annexation  of  Griqualand  West,  which  suddenly  found  favor  in 
the  eyes  of  the  British  on  account  of  the  discovery  of  diamonds, 
and  on  which  arose  the  Kimberley  of  to-day.    This  was  followed 
by  the  annexation  of  the  Transvaal  by  Sir  Theo])hilus  Shep- 
Btone,  with  all  the  bitter  feeling  that  naturally  resulted  there- 
from.   And  then  the  Sir  Charles  Warren  expedition,  by  which 
the  Boers  were  deprived  of  Bechuanaland,  because  Mr.  Eliodes— 
whose  fortunate  career  at  the  Kimberley  Diamond  Fields  enabled 
him  to  give  the  rein  to  his  restless  ambition— wanted  to  open  up 
a  pathway  to  the  north,  to  the  Ehodesia  of  to-day,    Tlien  came 
the  establishment  of  the  Chartered  Company,  followed  by  the 
notorious  Jameson  Raid.     Such  petty  incidents  as  the  Keate 
Award,  the  Swazieland  Muddle,  the  Annexation  of  Sambaan's 
Land,  I  will  pass  over,  for  brevity's  sake.    In  short,  the  beneficent 
policy  of  1853  and  1854,  which  was  for  a  moment  revived  under 
the  Gladstone  Ministry  of  1881— when  the  independence  of  the 
South  African  Republic  was  restored— has  been  the  exception 
during  the  century  now  speeding  to  its  close.    British  statesmen 
apparently  failed  to  see  that  South  Africa  could  only  be  served 
by  giving  each  race  the  domain  which  destiny  had  prepared  for  it, 
viz.,  the  Boer  the  hinterland  and  the  Britisher  the  coast,  to- 
gether with  the  rights  and  obligations  connected  ^herewith.    The 
welfare  of  the  interior  states  has  ever  been  the  life-buoy  to  which 
the  whole  of  South  Africa  has  clung,  in  times  of  darkness  and 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS, 

depression.  Let  the  interior  have  a  fair  opportunity  of  thriving 
us  well  as  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  country  permit,  and 
the  subjects  of  Queen  Victoria  will  be  able  to  enjoy  the  manifold 
pleasures  of  life  without  one  drop  of  English  soldiers'  blood  hav- 
ing to  be  spilt. 

The  immediate  motive  which  prompted  Sir  Theophilus  Shep- 
stone's  annexation  of  the  Transvaal  in  1877  was  the  commence- 
ment made  by  President  Burgers  of  the  long-cherished  railway 
to  Lourenyo  Marques.  Natal  and  Cape  Colony  were  not  satisfied 
with  squeezing  the  inland  States  by  means  of  '^eavy  duties,  high 
postal  tariffs,  and  enormous  trade  profits;  they  sought  the  com- 
plete economic  dependency  of  the  Republics,  by  jirohibiting  all 
railway  traffic  except  through  British  ports.  The  selfishness  of  a 
commercial  community  knows  no  limit. 

The  second  attempt  to  annex  the  South  African  Eepublic — 
with  which  the  names  of  British  politicians  were  connected — was 
not  the  result  of  a  commercial  policy,  but  it  furnishes  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  capitalism  which  has  become  such  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  South  African  policy,  since  the  amalgamation  of 
the  diamond  companies  of  Kimberlcy  into  one  mighty  body. 
The  fact  that  to-day — whilst  these  lines  are  being  written — this 
unhappy  continent  is  on  the  eve  of  a  helium  omnium  contra 
omyies,  can  only  be  explained  by  the  overwhelming  infiuence  ac- 
quired by  certain  "nouveaux  riches"— whose  social  existence  de- 
pends upon  the  Transvaal  gold  industry— among  those  who  on  the 
British  side  are  shaping  the  fate  of  South  Africa. 

During  the  course  of  the  present  century,  this  oart  of  the 
world  has  witnessed  a  variety  of  "agitations."  It  was  the  negro- 
philist  agitation  which  drove  the  Boors  in  bitterness  ol  spirit  be- 
yond the  boundaries  of  Cape  Colony;  and  it  was  an  administrative 
agitation  which  for  a  long  time  impeded  their  progress  and  threw 
all  manner  of  obstacles  in  their  way;  it  w^^s  the  politics  of  the 
counting-houoe  which  suggested  the  annexation  of  the  Diamond 
Fields  and  the  annexation  of  the  Transvaal;  and  it  is  a  stock  ex- 
change organisation  which  is  pulling  the  strings  of  the  movement 
of  to-day.  Oi  all  these  agitations,  the  last— that  of  the  financiers 
—is  the  most  despicable,  the  most  ominous,  the  most  dangerous, 
and  the  most  unworthy  of  the  British  nation.  The  Boers  can 
forgive  Dr.  Philip  for  his  nogrophilistic  ardor,  they  can  forgive 
Sir  Harry  Smith,  Sir  Pliilip  Wodehouse,  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  and 


TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  SOUTH  AFRICAN  QUESTION. 
Sir  Owen  Lanyon  for  their  excess  of  administrative  zeai,  but  no 
Afrikander  will  bow  down  at  the  bidding  of  a  group  of  foreign 

speculators. 

When  the  Witwatersrand  gold  fields  were  discovered,  the 
Transvaalers  had  already  had  some  experience  of  the  advantages 
and  disadvantages  attendant  on  the  possession  of  mineral  wealth. 
In  the  early  seventies,  .ne  opening  up  of  the  alluvial  deposits  at 
Pilgrim's  Kest,  in  the  northeast  of  the  Republic,  was  the  cause 
of  considerable  immigration.     In  the  eighties,  there  was  a  rush 
to  the  diggings  at  Uekaap,  of  which  Barberton  became  the  centre, 
the  Afrikander  element  being  strongly  represented.     From  tlie 
very  beginning,  the  law-makers  of  the  Transvaal  dealt  very   len- 
iently with  the  miners,  the  vast  majority  of  whom  were  foreigners. 
The  Boers  knew  of  the  mineral  wealth  of  their  country  at  an 
early  date,  but  they  never  felt  constrained  to  exchange  the 
quietude  of  their  pastoral  life  for  the  feverish  existence  of  the 
gold-seeker.     The  Boers  have  never  endeavored  to  turn  the  pres- 
ence of  gold  in  their  soil  to  practical  account,  and  make  it  a  direct 
source  of  national  income;  as,  for  instance,  the  Chartered  Com- 
pany has  done,  expropriating  a  large  portion  of  tlie  profits  of  the 
"Old  fields.     An  instance  of  this  liberal  legislation,  more  strikmg 
than  a  long  array  of  figures,  is  furnished  by  the  jniblic  lottery  of 
gold  claims-some  of  which  are  extremely  vaiuable-«-liich  is 
now  taking  place,  and  in  which  both  burghers  and  Titlanders  can 
narticipate  without  distinction. 

The  exceptionally  generous  legislation  of  the  Boers  with  re- 
gard  to  mining  matters  was  eflected  with  the  sole  object  of  foster- 
ing agriculture;  this  has,  however,  only  been  realized  in  part, 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  expansion  of  the  mining  industry 
gradually  made  native  labor  dear,  and  thus  heavily  handicapped 
fhe  agriculturist.     The  administration  of  the  Boers  m  the  days  o 
PilgrL's  Rest  and  Barberton  compares  very  fawably  with  that 
0   L  Diamond  Fields  of  Cape  Colony.     The  TVansvaah^s  .ere 
good-natured,  but  they  had  no  inclination  to  be  trifled  ^^  ith.     In 
those  davs  there  was  no  talk  of  Uitlanders'  grievances,  nor  e  en 
dur  ng  the  early  years  of  Johannesburg.     The  Witwatersrand  is 
no    seated    liU  Pilgrim's  Rest  and  I^rberton,  m  an^  nifi^ 
quented  part  of  the  country,  but  it  lies  to  ^^--^^ff^^^^ 
of  Pretor  a,  between  Potchefstroom  and  Heidelberg,  "^  th^J^^y 
heart  of  the  Boer  States.     Johannesburg  sprang  up  with  aston- 


:!fl 


BRITAIN  AND  IHE  BOERS. 

ish'mg  rapidity,  and  offered  special  attractions  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  South  African  adventurers  who,  like  Mr.  Micavvber,  were 
only  "waiting  for  something  to  turn  up."     From  their  farms  in 
the  Free  State,  from  their  wayside  stores  in  Cape  Colony,  from 
their  plantations  in  Natal,  from  their  broker  offices  in  the  Dia- 
mond Fields,  they  gathered  together— men  of  every  type  and 
every  class,  but  united  in  their  feverish  thirst  for  wealth.     The 
expectations  of  the  most  sanguine  were  realized;  they  reaped  a 
rich  harvest  in  the  shajjc  of  large   exchange  profits,  although 
many  of  tlieir  number  knew  practically  nothing  about  mining  or 
imancial  administration.     Then  came  the  inevitable  collapse  in 
J  889,  wluch  only  si)ared  the  most  fortunate;  and  the  great  ma- 
jority of  this  strangely  mixed  community  were  gradually  com- 
pelled to  make  room  for  more  competent  men  from.  Europe  and 
America.     These  brought  brains  and  experience  into  their  work, 
and  placed  the  industry  upon  a  more  solid  basis;  but  they  also 
inoculated  the  Uitlanders  with  the  hacilli  of  discord  and  revolu- 
tion, much  to  the  detriment  of  the  shareholders  across  the  sea. 
The  appearance  of  the  present-day  Uitlander— that  is  to  say, 
the  grievance-bearing  or  rather  grievance-seeking  stranger— dates 
from  the  period  when  qralified  experts  satisfied  themselves  as  to 
tJie  uniquely  favorable  situation  of  the  precious  metal  in  Wit- 
watersrand— from  the  time  when  wild  speculation  began  to  make 
room  for  a  genuine  exploitation  of  the  mines.     The  preliminary 
period  to  which  I  refer  above  was  the  cause  of  an  influx  of  immi- 
grants into  the  Republic.     Thpy  spread  themselves  over  the  face 
of  the  country,  penetrating  into  the  most  outlying  spots,  in  order 
to  procure  material  for  the  flotation  of  mining  companies      This 
period  also  saw  the  birth  of  the  "Land  and  Estate"  Companies 
who  generally  bought  up  the  most  uninhabited  or  uninhabitable 
farms  for  speculative  purposes.     By  reason  of  foreign  ownership 
oi.  large  tracts  of  land,  the  argument  is  often  advanced  that  an 
onormous  portion  of  the  South  African  Republic  no  longer  be- 
ongs  to  the  Boers.     It  may  be  remarked,  en  passant,  that,  whilst 
the  Boer  has  been  severely  condemned  for  his  slothfulness  in 
maiters  agricultural,  practically  none  of  the  land  companies  has 
ever  devoted  more  than  a  few  acres  to  the  growing  of  crops. 
Uhen  the  period  of  wild  speculation  suffered  a  collapse,  the  Uit- 
^uider  no  longer  spread  himself  over  the  whole  of  th-   itepublic 
henceforward,  the  Witwatersrand  was  the  exclusive  scene  of  his 


TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  SOUTH  AFIilVAN  QUESTION. 

labors,  and  here  he  elected  to  pitch  his  tent.  Outside  the  Katid, 
he  conlined  himself  to  the  ordinary  occuputiouri  of  tlie  olden  days 
— that  of  storekeeper  for  the  folk  of  the  few  rustic  centres,  and 
bank  manager,  hotelkeeper,  and  clergyman  in  the  solitary  country 
towns. 

After  the  crash  of  1889,  Johannesburg  slowly  became  the 
Uitlander  town  j)ar  excellence.     It  deserves  to  be  recorded  tlmt, 
as  the  output  of  gold  began  to  show  a  continual  increase,  tlie 
"Uitlander  question"  accpiired  a  proportionate  magnitude.      In 
every  country  where  foreigners  are  to  be  found  in  appreciabk 
numbers,  there  is  an  Uitlander  question.     It  exists  in  France,  in 
regard  to  the  Italians  and  Belgians  living  there;  in  Japan,  in  re- 
gard to  the  Americans  and  Britishers;  in  London,  in  regard  to 
the  Poles;  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  Jews  were  in  nuniy  cases  a 
powerful  "Uitlander'  element.      During  the  last  century,  the 
Germans  in  Russia  have  been  "Uitlander-s"  and,  according  to 
the  Czechs  and  Hungarians,  they  are  so  in  Austria  to-day.     But 
the  Uitlander  question  in  the  South  African  Kepublic  dill'ers 
from  the  Uitlander  question  elsewhere,  as  it  has  been  made  the 
cause  of  an  international  dispute  between  two  States  of  unequal 
strength.      In  its  present  form,  the  Uitlander  question  is  only 
the  mask  of  a  financiers'  plot,  of  a  piece  of  IvKchange  Jobbery.     It 
has  steadily  kept  pace  with  the  gold  output.     In  1889,  £1,500,000 
was  produced.      In  that  year,  J()liannesl)urg  was  horrified  by  a 
ecries  of  stealthy  murders  which  were  only  explained  as  the  bandi- 
work  of  "Jack  the  Ripper."     No  one  tliought  at  tbat  time,  how- 
ever, of  saddling  the  Transvaal  Government  with  responsibility 
for  them,  or  of  sending  plaintive  petitions  to  England  as  to  tbe 
danger  of  life  in  the  South  African  Rei)ublie!     Everyone  under- 
btood,  then  as  now,  that  gold-tlelds  oiler  peculiar  attractions  to 
questionable  characters  of  all  classes.     In  March,  1890,  during 
a  visit  of  President   Krugcr  to  the  Golden  City,  the  Transvaal 
flag  was  pulled  down  from  the  Government  buildings.     It  sub- 
sequently transpired  that  tliis  was  only  tbc  work  of  some  drunken 
rough,  and  the  mining  and  mercantile  communities  lost  no  time 
in  expressing  their  disapproval  of  the  incident.     The  realization 
of  the  practical  value  of  tbe  deep-level  theory— in  other  words, 
the  ultimate  conviction  as  to  the  indisputable  durability  and 
wealth  of  the  Witwatersrand  gold-fiolds— has,  in  the  meantime, 
become  the  signal  for  an  agitation  against  the  Government  and 


¥  i 


S  .:^ 


BRITAIN  AND  THE  BOERS. 

the  people  of  the  South  African  Republic.  From  this 
})triod  dates  li^ngland's  claim  to  suzerainty  over  the  South  African 
Republic  and  the  paramount-powership  in  South  Africa,  of 
which  hitherto  no  mention  had  over  been  made.  In  1894,  the 
tlien  Iligli  Commissioner,  Sir  Henry  Loch,  was  present  at  some 
(liamond-ilrill  experiments  at  the  Hand,  which  proved  beyond 
dispute  the  continuous  nature  of  the  goid-bearing  reef  at  a  con- 
siderable depth,  and  at  an  important  distance  from  the  outcrop 
reef.  During  this  visit,  Sir  Henry  Loch  made  a  promise  to  the 
mining  magnates — as  per  letter  of  Mr.  Lionel  Phillips,  then  the 
Chairman  of  the  Joliannesburg  Chamber  of  Mines* — to  stir  up 
the  Transvaal  Government  on  condition  that  the  "Uitlander" 
agitation  increased  in  intensity.  The  Transvaal  Gieen  Book  pro- 
vides instructive  reading  even  for  to-day;  it  contains  extracts  from 
private  letters  from  Air,  Phillips  to  his  London  friends.  On  the 
10th  of  June,  1894,  he  wrote  to  Mi.  Beit: 

"As  to  the  franchise,  I  do  not  think  many  people  care  a  flg  about 
It." 

On  the  1st  of  July  of  the  same  year,  he  wrote  to  Mr,  Wemher: 

"S."r  H.  Loch  (with  whom  I  had  two  long  private  Interviews  alone) 
asked  me  some  very  pointed  questions,  such  as  what  arms  we  had  in 
Johannesburg,  whether  the  population  could  hold  the  place  for  six 
days  until  help  could  arrive,  etc.,  etc.,  and  stated  plainly  that  If  there 
had  been  3,000  rifles  and  ammunition  here  he  would  certainly  have 
come  over.  He  further  Informed  me,  In  a  significant  way,  that  he  had 
prolonged  the  Swaziland  agreement  for  six  months,  and  said  he  sup- 
posed in  chat  time  Johannesburg  would  be  better  prepared — as  much 
as  to  say,  if  things  are  safer  then  we  shall  actively  Intervene." 

Tliis  conversation  took  place  at  Pretoria,  where  Sir  Henry 

Loch,  as  the  representative  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  was 

the  honored  guest  of  the  Transvaal  people!     On  the  15th  of  July 

of  the  same  year,  Mr,  Phillips  wrote  to  Mr.  Beit: 

"We  don't  want  any  rov/.  Our  trump  ca,  3  is  a  fund  of  £10,000 
or  £15,000  to  improve  the  Volksraad.  Unfortunately  the  Gold  Com- 
panieb  have  no  Secret  Borvice  Fund." 

Ail  this  happened  in  1894,  when  the  gold  output  had  already 
rf.ached  a  total  of  nearly  7|  millions  sterling.  In  1895,  it  had 
7'isen  to  84  millions;  the  '"'trump  card"  had  also  risen  and  amount- 
ed to  £120,000,  with  which  sum  the  Reform  movement  at  Johan- 
nesburg was  partially  financiered — a  movement  which  came  to  an 
untimely  end  at  Doornkop. 

•  Vide  Transvaal  Green  Book,  No.  2,  of  1896. 


TRANSVAAL  VIKW  OF  SOUTH  AFRTCAN  QUESTION. 
In  1897  the  inquiry  by  the  official  Industrial  Commission 
took  place,  the  result  being  a  substantial  lowering  of  railway 
tariffs  and  import  dues.     But  the  "grievances"  still  remained,  and 
increased  in  1897  in  sympathy  wiUi  the  gold  output,  which  had 
now  reached  the  large  figure  of  Hi  millions.     Still  more  "un- 
boarable"  were  these  "grievances"  in  1898,  during  which  year  IH 
nillions  of  gold  was  dug  out  of  Transvaal  soil.     This  was  the 
year  of  the  Edgar  atl'air  and  of  the  Uitlandcr  Petition,  and  m  the 
^ame  year  forty-five  gold  companies  of  the  Hand  (the  share  capital 
issued  being  £20,294,075)  paid  out  in  dividends  no  less  than  £5,- 
089,78.5-an  average  of  25  per  cent.!     The  output  for  1899  has 
already  been  estimated  at  22^  millions,  and  the  number  of  divi- 
dend-paying  companies  increases  every  month. 

In  1896   the  rural  population  were  visited  ly  a  series  of  griev- 
ous plagues-by  rinderpest,  by  drought,  by  locusts,  and  by  the 
dreaded  fever.  '  While  the  Uitlanders  of  the  Rand  were  reported 
to  be  groaning  under  the  oppression  of  their  Egyptian  taskmas- 
ters,  and  European  shareholders  were  depicted  as  helpless  victims 
of  a  corrupt  Krtlger  regime,  the  Boers  were  "taking  up  arms 
against  a  sea  of  troubles"  M'hich  threatened  to  overwhelm  them, 
and  of  which  we  heard  exceedingly  little,  either  in  the  local  papers 
or  in  the  cable  columns  of  the  London  press.     AVhilst  thousands 
of  Boer  families  saw  the  fruit  of  long  years  of  toil  plucked  away 
by  the  hand  of  God  in  a  single  season,  the  campaign  of    ibel  on 
behalf  of  the  Uitlanders  was  vigorously  prosecuted  with  the  help 
of  money  won  from  Transvaal  soil  by  mining  magnates,    he 
princely  munificence  displayed  by  whom  in  London  and  other 
places  outside  South  Africa  wa.  occasionally  referred  to  m    he 
Lai  papers  as  a  joyous  chord  between  the  "grievance'   sympho- 
nies that  were  struck  in  the  mi. lor  key. 

I  have  little  inclination  to  expatiate  on  the  true  character  of 
tlie  present  movement  against  the  Boers;  but  I  do  say  that   o  sup- 
port the  latest  type  of  agination  against  the  white  population 
he  inferior  of  South  Africa  is  unworthy  of  the  traditions  o    the 
Ang^^-taxon  race.     The  South  African  Republic  is  not  without 
polftical  blemishes;  as  in  every  other  country,  we  have  our  ad- 
m'n     rative  scandals,  both  great  and  small;  we  have  our  social 
Tnd  econoiuic  plagu  -spots,  wliich  must  be  made  to  disapp  ar. 
i-fell  never  Jere  fountains  of  pure  -o-Hty  nor  are  they 
0  in  South  Africa.     Has  one  ever  pictured  the  future  of  the 


BRITAIN  ASD  lUE  BOERS, 

most  civilized  country  of  the  Old  World  if  a  second  Johannesburg 
were  to  spring  up  in  mushroom  fashion?  1  do  not  wish  to  speak 
ovil  of  the  wire-pullers  of  the  present  agitation  against  the  Afri- 
kanders; but,  surely,  those  j)ersuns  whose  princely  palaces  have 
been  built  with  Transvaal  gold,  and  who  cry  out  so  loudly  against 
our  government,  should  be  the  last  to  throw  stones  against  the 
liepublic.  The  ''oligarchy"  at  Pretoria — to  use  Mr.  Chambei* 
Iain's  recent  expression — consists  of  barely  a  few  dozen  Boers; 
there  is,  therefore,  strong  evidence  in  favor  of  this  "oligarchy" 
in  the  fact  that  it  has  been  able  to  offer  such  prolonged  resistance 
tii  the  well-disposed  and  undoubtedly  disinterested  attempts  d' 
such  gentlemen  as  Lionel  Phillips  to  "improve"  them  from 
Johannesburg  and  London.  Such  an  "oligarchy"  is  without  a 
parallel  in  modern  times.  It  forms  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
■worship  of  the  golden  calf  on  the  Witwatersrand,  from  which 
Pretoria  is  only  distant  about  three  hours  on  horseback.  Such 
an  "oligarchy"  deserves  to  be  carefully  preserved  rather  than  de- 
stroyed, as  we  preserve  from  total  extinction  seme  rare  plant  or 
peculiar  species  of  animal. 

There  are  undoubted  grievances  in  the  South  African  Re- 
public, but  they  are  not  the  exclusive  property  of  the  Uitlanders; 
a  discreet  silence  is  observed  with  respect  to  the  wrongs  of  the 
Transvaal  burghers,  and  I  do  not  feel  it  to  be  my  task  to  dilate 
upon  them  now.  But  still  they  exist,  although  the  absorbing 
selfishness  of  the  mining  magnates  keeps  back  the  light  of  day; 
the  lust  for  gold  stifles  all  generosity,  compassion,  mercy,  brother- 
ly love,  and  respect  for  the  rights  of  the  weak.  What  Jlonomo- 
tapa  was  to  the  Phoenicians  and  Arabs,  Witwatersrand  is  to  our 
present  gold-seekers,  and  to  most  of  the  Uitlanders — a  temporary 
land  of  exile,  which  they  only  endure  for  the  sake  of  the  gold. 
Can  we  picture  the  wise  king  Solomon  demanding  the  franchise 
for  his  subjects  in  the  realms  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba? 

South  Africa  is  poor;  it  will  remain  poor,  in  spite  of  its  gold 
and  its  diamonds.  It  will  never  be  able  to  pay  back  the  cost  of  a 
bitter  strife,  unless  the  gold-bedecked  princes  come  fonvard  with 
the  treasure  which  they  have  wrung  from  the  land.  As  long  as 
the  Boers  allow  the  modern  Phoenicians  to  dig  the  precious  met- 
alti  out  of  Transvaal  soil  without  heavy  impositions,  and  to  have 
a  free  hand  in  the  administration  of  the  country  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  native  population,  it  will  be  found  that  the  best  busi- 


TRANSVAAL  VIEW  OF  SOUTH  AFRICAN  QUESTION, 

ncss  policy  will  be  to  loiive  the  Boers  in  undisturbed  possession 
ol"  tlioir  country,  free  to  rule  it  by  their  own  heulthy  instinct  and 
according  to  the  good  old  traditions  of  their  forefathers,  with 
tiieir  own  language,  their  own  rulers,  their  own  aspirations — 
even  with  their  own  faults  and  prejudices. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that,  from  the  earliest  days  of  the 
gold-fields,  the  Uitlanders  knew  that  the  South  African  Repub- 
lic was  an  ''oligarchy";  they  knew  that  the  Boers  were  "illiter- 
ate," "stupid,"  "ignorant,"  and  a  great  deal  besides;  they  knew 
that  a  dynamite  monopoly  existed,  and  that  President  KrUger 
was  a  "hard  nut  to  crack."     Notwithstanding  this  knowledge  the 
"Uitlanders"  have  flocked  in  by  thousands,  and  foreign  capital 
has  been  invested  amounting  to  several  hundreds  of  millions 
sterling.     During  the  lirst  five  months  of  the  present  year,  Trans- 
vaal gold  and  other  companies  were  registered  here  with  a  com- 
bined capital  of  over  £15,3i)l,389.     In  July  last— in  the  middle 
of  the  crisis— five  new  companies  were  registered  with  a  capital 
of  £1,159,000.     And  of  all  the  Uitlanders  only  a  section  of  the 
British    subjects    are    genuinely   dissatisfied.     Notwithstanding 
that  the  "oppression"  of  the  Transvaal  "oligarchy"  has  been  told 
and  retold,  until  the  world  has  become  sick  and  weary,  immi- 
grants  are  still  pouring  in  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe. 

The  Boers  do  not  ask  for  mercy;  they  ask  for  justice.  Those 
who  keep  up  the  unfair  agitation  against  the  South  African  Ke- 
public  are  the  last  men,  however,  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  right- 
eousness, or  to  be  guided  by  any  noble  impulse;  political  corrup- 
tion is  the  seed  they  sow,  and  l)y  their  unexampled  opportunities 
they  feel  confident  of  reaping  their  criminal  harvest.  Lp  to  the 
present  they  have  gathered  only  tears;  a  still  more  bitter  time 
of  reaping  has  yet  to  come.  In  the  past  the  Boers  have  been  ab 
to  fight  against  immensely  superior  odds.  They  feel  that  the 
final  victory  will  be  theirs;  for  they  know  they  nave  right  on 

''" Ven'would  it  be  for  the  British  nation  if  they  could  but 
realize  the  significance  of  those  words  of  Russell  Lowell: 

.■Truth  forever  on  the  -a«°ld.  ^on.  fo^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

IIS  a:r"tr IL'sharrKeTp^n,  watch  ahove  His  own." 

F.  v.  ENQELENBURa. 

Pretoria,  August,  1899. 


ft 


4 


North  American  Review 


1899, 


MAY  CONTENTS. 


The  War  with  Spain— I. 

Major-Oeneral  Nelson  A.  Miles. 

China  and  the  Powers. 

Lord  CH^BLES  Bebesford,  R.  N.,  C.  B.,  M.  P. 

The  l{eligious  Situation  in  England. 

Ian  Maolaren. 
The  Nicaragua  Canal tbohas  b.  keed. 

What  Spain  Can  T.ach  America. 

Nicolas  Estevanbz. 

England  in  Egypt  and  the  Soudan. 

Colonel  Charles  CiiailliS  Long. 
The  New  Poetry William  Dean  Howells. 

Conditions  and  Needs  in  Cuba. 

Major-General  Leonard  Wood. 

Courts  Martial  in  England  and  America. 

The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  F.  H,  Jeone. 

The  Curse  in  Education. 

Rbbeooa  Hardinq  Davis. 

Work  of  the  Joint  High  Commission. 

A  Canadian  Liberal. 

WIRELESS  TELEGRAPHY : 

Its  Origin  and  Development o.  Marooni. 

Its  Scientific  History  and  Future  Uses. 

J.  A.  Fleming.  F.  R.  S. 

JULY  CONTENTS. 

A  Channel  Passage,  l&$5. 

Algernon  Charles  Swinburne. 
Ex  Oriente  Lux  I    A   I'iea  for  a  Russo- 
Americac  Understanding. 

Prince  £.  Ookhtomset;  Vladihik  Uolmstkem. 
"  Americanism,"  True  and  False. 

The  Rev.  William  Barrt,  D.  D. 
Universal  Peace.. .Baroness  Bertha  von  SOttneb. 

England  an«!  the  Transvaal stdnet  Brooks. 

Our  Public  Schools.    A  Reply. 

Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rensselaer. 
The  Government  of  Greater  New  York. 

Bird  S,  Coler. 
Pig  Iron  and  Prosperity George  h.  hull. 

The  Logic  of  Our  Position  in  Cuba. 

An  Officem  of  the  Army  of  Occupation. 
The  Tercentenary  of  Veiasque?. 

C'^iABLES  WhIBLEY. 

The  War  with  Spain— HI. 

Major-General  Neibon  A,  Milks. 
Qolf  from  a  St.  Andrews  Point  of  View. 

Andkkw  Lang. 


JUNE  CONTENTS. 

Conditions  and  Prospects  of  the  Treasury. 

Ltman  J.  Gage. 

Israel  Among  the  Nations maxNordau. 

Jeffersonian  Principles William  J.  Bbyan.   () 

The  Imbroglio  in  Samoa henrtc.  ids. 

Commercial  Education. 

The  Rt.  Hon.  James  Bryce,  M.  P. 

The  Industrial  Commission s.  n.  d.  north. 

The  Reverses  of  Britomart Edmund  gosse. 

Taxation  of  Public  Franchises. 

state  Senator  John  Ford. 

The  Outlook  for  Carlism. 

The  Hon.  James  Roch»',  M.  P. 

The  War  with  Spain— I!.  ■. 

Major-Qeneral  Nelson  A.  Miles.    V 

Present  Aspects  of  the  Dreyfus  Case. 

Joseph  Reinach. 

The  Peace  Conference :  Its  Possible  Practical 
Results A  Diplomatist  at  the  Hague. 

AUGUST  CONTEiNTTS. 

Woman's  International  Parliament. 

Thu  Countess  of  Aberdeen; 
Kasbandka  Vivaria. 

The  Paramount  Power  of  the  Pacific. 

John  Barrett. 
Constitutional  ConHict  in  Finland.  A 

A  Membfk  of  tue  FiNNibH  Diet,     'a 
The  Case  Against  Christian  Science.  v 

.     ,,  _         .,..,.  W.  A.  PURRINGTON.      U 

Anti-Trust  Legislation Joseph  d.  Sayers.    a 

Japan's  Entry  into  the  Family  of  Nations.  / 

„.      „.     .      ..                              T.  R.  Jernigan.  \ 

The  Zionist  Movement.  () 

....       .       „  ,.  .  .    Prof.  Richard  Gotthbil.  /') 

Atbletics  for  Politicians.  \ 

Sir  Charles  W.  Dilke.  Bt.,  M.  P.  (/ 

The  Censorship  of  the  Stage  in  England.  /) 

.    _     ,           ,  „  ,                   G.  Bernard  Shaw.  )\ 

A  Century  of  Salons.  (/ 

Kli;?abeth  Robins  Pennell.  d 

Girls'  Novels  in  France.  a 

Yktta  Blaz::  De  Bury.  \ 

The    rlSSaSfcs  Sf   PoYcfiy  Max  O'Rfll.  \ 


^ 


Q 


The  North  American  Review 

EDITED    BY    GEORGE    B.    M.    HARVEY 
50  Cents  a  Copy.    55.00  a  Year 


SEPTEMBER  CONTENTS. 

The  Agnostic's  Side  (^Republished). 

Robert  G.  Inoeksoll. 

logersoll's  lofluence. 

The  Rev.  Henry  M.  Field,  D.D. 

Ex  Oriente  Lux:  A  Rejoinder. 

Abohibald  Little. 

^  The  Foreign  Service  of  the  United  States. 

Francis  B.  LooaMis, 
17.  S,  Minister  to  Venezuela,  i 


A  Vindication  of  the  Boers. 
Legal  Aspect  of  Trusts. 


A  Diplomat. 
Joseph  S.  Aderbach. 


Progress  of  Antomobllism  in  Prance. 

Marquis  De  Chasseloup-Laubat. 

American  Universities. 

Kdocard  Rod. 

The  ••America"  Cup  Race. 

The  Hon.  Charles  Russell. 

Aguinaldo's  Case  Against  the  United  States 

A  Filipino. 


OCTOBER  CONTENTS. 
The  Peace  Conference  and  the  Moral  Aspect 

of  War.  Captain  A.  T.  Mahan,  U.  S.  N. 

U.  S.  Delegate  to  the  Huyue  Conference. 

In  the  Clutch  of  the  Harpy  Powers. 

R.  M.  Johnston. 
The  Picture  Gallery  of  the  Hermitage— I. 

Claude  Phillifs. 
A  Transvaal  View  of  the  South  African  Question. 

Dr.  F.  V.  Engelenburg. 
Editor  of  the  Pretoria  "Volkastem." 

The  Present  Literary  Situation  in  Prance. 
-...,,        „        .  Henry  James. 

The  Alaskan  Boundary.    Prot.  j.  b.  moore. 

ij-merly  Assistant  Secretaru  of  State. 

Some  Social  Tendencies  in  America. 

The  Right  Rev.  H.  C.  Potter,  D.D. 

Bishop  of  New  York. 

A  Trained  Colonial  Civil  Service. 

E.  G.  Bourne. 
Professor  of  History  in  Yale  University. 

The  French  Press  and  the  Dreyfus  Case. 

M.  DE  Blowttz. 
Paris  Correspondent  of  the  London  "  Times." 

THE  ANGLOSAXON  RIVALS: 
Five  Years  of  American  Progress. 

M.  G.  Mulhall,  F.S.S. 
The  Decline  of  British  Commerce. 

A.  Mavrioe  Low. 
America  and  England  In  the  East. 

The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Chas.  W.  Dilke,  Bt.,  M.P. 
The  Restless  Energy  of  the  American  People. 

Ian  Maolaren. 


BY  an  examination  of  the  foregoing  Contents  pages  of  The  North  American  Review  A 
for  the  past  six  months  the  reader  cannot  fail  to  notice  with  what  timeliness  A 
and  authority  the  current  topics  of  interest  are  discussed  from  month  to  month. 
Each  number  contains  several  articles  which  no  scholar  or  student  of  public  affairs 
can  afford  to  overlook. 


I. 


2. 


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A  remittance  of  the  yearly  subscription  price,  $5.00,  for  1900  will  entitle 
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This  veteran  monthly  does  not  propose  to  rest  upon  past  achievements,  but  has  plans  for  the 
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EAGLE. 


The  diversity  and  interest  of  its  contents  promise  well  for  the  future.— NEW  YORK  COM- 
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The  North  American  Review  shows  the  "new  blood"  in  vigorous  quality  and  abounding  quan- 
tity. The  corps  of  writers  is  one  of  remarkable  strength,  and  places  The  North  American  Re- 
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The  new  editor  demonstrates  his  knowledge  of  what  constitutes  work  worthy  of  a  magazine 
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The  North  American  Review  under  its  new  control  has  changed  not  so  much  as  to  its  cloth- 
ing as  in  its  body.  It  seems  better  fed,  more  robust,  and  t..  share  in  a  renaissance  of  prosperity. 
Its  leaves  are  broader  and  there  are  more  of  them.  Its  contributors  write  not  more  lengthily, 
but  with  more  authority.— NEWARK  DAILY  ADVERTISER. 


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©EOKGB  W.  YOUNG ....President 

LUTHKB  KOUNTZE Vice-President 

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ABTUUB  TURNBULL.... 8d  VlcePreeldent 

CLARK  WILLIAMS Treasurer 

WILLIAM  P,  ELLIOTT Secretary 

RIOHABDM.  HURD Aast.  Secretary 

OALVKRT  BREWER A  sat  Treasurer 

ALEXANDER  PHILLIPS Man'g  For'n  Dept. 


DIRECTORS 


Samuel  D. 
Wm.  H.  Baldwin,  Jr. 
Frederick  ■-:  S.irton 
C  Ledyart-  Blair 
Dumont  Clarke 
Otiarlea  D.  Dickey 
William  P.  Diron 
Robert  A.  Grannies 
G.  O.  Haven,  Jr. 
Charles  B.  Henderson 
James  J.  Hill 


Babco<}k 

Gust>\y  E.  Kissel 
Luther  Kountze 
Charlton  T.  Lewis 
Biobard  j±.  McCurdy 
Theodore  Morf ord 
Robert  Olyphant 
Charles  M.  Pratt 
James  Tlmpson 
Eben  B.  Thomas 
George  W.  Younar 


